Indonesia's Prisoners

II. THE PRISONERS LINKED TO THE PKI

Thirteen elderly men remain in prison, accused of membership in or involvement with the Indonesian Communist Party (Partai Komunis Indonesia or PKI). Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch believe that all of these men should be released immediately and unconditionally.

By the Indonesian government's own count, more than one million people were detained in the aftermath of a coup attempt by a short-lived "Revolutionary Council" on the night of September 30, 1965 that the Indonesian government has blamed on the PKI. Six senior army officers were killed by the plotters, some of whose members were junior officers in the army's Cakrabirawa Unit, the presidential guard. Some PKI leaders may have been involved, but the true facts of that night have never been disclosed. The primary beneficiary of the upheaval that followed was Maj. Gen. Suharto, who had met with Col. Abdul Latief, the head of the Revolutionary Council, just before the coup occurred. Latief, now in Cipinang Prison, Jakarta, told journalists last week that he had warned Suharto that the coup was going to take place, and that Suharto was clearly involved.⁽²⁾

In the months that followed, Suharto gradually asserted his control, taking full powers from then President Sukarno on March 11, 1966 and finally becoming president in 1967. From October 1965 through 1967, Indonesia witnessed one of the worst slaughters of the twentieth century, when hundreds of thousands of suspected PKI members or supporters were slaughtered by other Indonesians, with the encouragement of the army. The party, once the largest in the world after the communist parties of the Soviet Union and China, was annihilated.

Of the one million detained, only about 1,000 were ever brought to trial, and the trials, which took place in a highly charged political atmosphere where to say anything in defense of suspected communists was to bring suspicion on oneself, are considered to have been uniformly unfair. Repeated calls by Amnesty International to review their trials were ignored by the Suharto government. Some of the thirteen men still in prison are known to be prisoners of conscience although there is insufficient information to make a definite determination for others; some clearly were involved in the use of violence. It is the nature of their trials, their age, and the ill health of many in the group that lead Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch to call for their release. The organizations consider their continued detention cruel, inhuman, and degrading.

Several of the thirteen prisoners received death sentences, including three men detained in Cipinang Prison, Jakarta. They are I Bungkus, now 61, then a sergeant in the Cakrabirawa Unit; Asep Suryaman, 72, allegedly a member of the PKI's "Special Bureau" responsible for building contacts for the PKI within the military; and Nataneal Marsudi, 63, who in 1965 had been a sergeant major in the air force. Isnanto, formerly head of the PKI in North Sumatra, who was arrested in 1968 and sentenced to death in 1974, is detained in Tanjung Gusta Prison, Medan, North Sumatra.

Several of the men are known to be seriously ill. Pudjo Prasetio, now 72 and detained in Kedong Pane Prison in Semarang, suffers from Parkinson's disease which has severely affected his physical mobility. He was a shipbuilder and trade unionist who joined the PKI in the mid-1950s. He was arrested in 1967 in Central Java, held for twelve years, then tried and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1979.

Abdul Latief, 72, was sentenced to life imprisonment following his arrest in 1965. He suffered a stroke a year and a half ago, as a result of which he now speaks with a slur. When questioned recently about the possibility of release, Abdul Latief was quoted as saying, "I will be ready for whatever comes my way...I am just happy for those that are going to be released before me. Let my friends walk free first."⁽³⁾

The other prisoners include Sri Soehardjo, 70, who was arrested in November 1967. He was sentenced to death but this was later commuted to life imprisonment which he is serving in Padang Prison, West Sumatra. His health is believed to be poor. Manan Effendi Tjokrohardjo, 78, was arrested in October 1965. A former editor of a local newspaper, he was the vice-chairman of a branch of the PKI in Kalimantan. He was sentenced to death in 1967 but this was commuted to life imprisonment in 1982. Detained in Kalisosok Prison, Surabaya, he is believed to be almost paralyzed following two strokes in 1997. Alexander Warouw, 80, was involved with a Kalimantan branch of a trade union linked to the PKI. He was also arrested in October 1965 and tried for subversion. In 1967 he was sentenced to life imprisonment and is detained in Balikpapan Prison in Kalimantan. He suffers from diabetes.

Soma Suryabrata, 71, is serving a life sentence in Pamekasan Prison, Madura. Buyung Ketek, 58, was sentenced to fifteen years' imprisonment in 1986 for subversion, but it is believed that this was converted to a term of life imprisonment in 1987. Arrested in December 1965, he is serving his sentence in a prison in Padang, West Sumatra. Sido, about whom little is known, is believed to be serving a life sentence at Gunung Sari Prison in Ujung Pandang, along with Markus Giroth, 62, a member of the PKI, who was arrested in 1967. Markus Giroth was accused of trying to revive a network of PKI activists in south Sulawesi and was tried by a military tribunal. He was sentenced to death in 1968, but his sentence was commuted to life imprisonment and he is believed also to be in poor health.