Muchtar Pakpahan released
By Max Lane
Muchtar Pakpahan, chairperson of the Indonesian Workers for Prosperity Union (SBSI), was released from prison on May 19.
Pakpahan was arrested, tried and sentenced to three years' jail in November. The prosecution later appealed and the sentence was extended to seven years. He was charged in relation to demonstrations by 20,000 workers from the industrial estates around the north Sumatran city of Medan in April 1994. More than 1000 army troops had to be deployed to end the disturbances.
In a press conference on May 24, Pakpahan stated that international pressure had been important in securing his release. This was confirmed by the head of the Supreme Court, Adi Andojo Soetjipto, who was quoted in the May 27 edition of the news weekly Gatra as saying: "If we had extended his stay in jail, we'd have never seen the end of attacks on us from overseas".
At the same time, however, Adi Andojo also stated that he was sure that Muchtar would not be organising any more demonstrations. "Special coordination is needed with the security apparatus so that Muchtar will not get up to any untoward behaviour. Everyone knows what they have to do", he said.
A party to welcome Pakpahan back to Jakarta had to be abandoned due to the large number of plain-clothes intelligence agents who also decided to attend.