By James Balowski
The subversion trials of 14 Peoples Democratic Party (PRD) activists are now dragging into their fourth month and the Indonesian government is moving quickly to bring them to a "conclusion".
On March 26, the Jakarta daily Kompas reported that the prosecution in the Surabaya cases had asked the court to hand down sentences of eight years for Dita Indah Sari, chair of the PRD affiliated Indonesian Centre for Labour Struggle, six years for National Peasants Union leader and PRD member Coen Pontoh and five years for M. Sholeh.
In Jakarta, Kompas reported on April 15 that prosecutors had demanded 15 years for PRD chair Budiman Sujatmiko, 13 years for Garda Sembiring, 10 years for Pranowo, nine years for Eko Kurniawan Kabid, eight years for Suroso, 12 years for PRD general secretary Petrus H. Haryanto, six years for Ken Budha Kusumandaru and three years for Victor da Costa and Ignatius Putut Arintoko.
Prosecution demands against five other PRD activists including I Gusti Anom Astika and Wilson bin Nurtias have not been reported.
The outcome of the trials was never in doubt — only the severity of the sentences. Although the charge of subversion carries a maximum penalty of death, with the exception of East Timorese freedom fighters, these are the heaviest sentences ever demanded by a public prosecutor against opponents of the regime.
The trials in Jakarta will resume on April 21 to hear statements by the defendants. Dita Sari and the other defendants in Surabaya presented their defence speeches on April 7. A panel of judges (Indonesian courts have no juries) will then hand down the sentences. Courts rarely sentence defendants to terms shorter than those demanded by the prosecution.
The trials of PRD activists and labour advocate Muchtar Pakpahan — who is also charged with subversion and whose trial has been suspended pending the outcome of hospital treatment — have attracted severe international criticism.
The Suharto regime has made no secret about its desire to have them over before the general elections. Attorney-general Singgih was quoted in Kompas on February 1 saying he hoped the trials would "conclude within the next three months, that is, before the start of the campaign". With the official campaign due to start in less than a week, the last thing the regime wants is for large numbers of foreign journalists to also report on the trials.
The regime's efforts to use the trials to justify its assertion that the PRD was behind the July 27 riots — that they are communists bent on overthrowing the government — has been a spectacular failure.
Even before the trials began, the PRD activists had won a major victory. Despite Suharto having accused them of masterminding the riots, the formal charges made no mention of this. Adding to the regime's embarrassment was a report from its own National Human Rights Commission which stated that the riots were caused by the attack on the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) offices, and that the government-installed PDI leader Suryadi and the military were at fault.
Accusations that the PRD are communists have also been dropped. Only in the last few weeks, when the prosecution presented "expert" witnesses, has the issue resurfaced. Even then, the prosecution has been forced to focus on the fact that the PRD's manifesto failed to mention the state ideology, Pancasila, as its basic principle.
In summing up the case against Dita Sari, the best the prosecution could do is conclude that, in collaboration with other PRD members, she had formed an illegal political party (only three political parties are sanctioned by the government), with the aim of bringing about a people's multiparty democratic system.