No justice in Indonesia, says dissident

Press, 10 January 1986, Page 6

No justice in Indonesia, says dissident

NZPA-AAP Jakarta A leading Indonesian dissident and a retired general, Hartono Rekso Dharsono, was yesterday sentenced to 10 years jail for subversion after a trial in which President Suharto and the military were strongly criticised. Dharsono challenged the Judge to give him the maximum permissable sentence for subversion, death, if he had genuinely opposed the interests of the people. “The trial was a sham. There is no justice in Indonesia,” Dharsono said after the verdict. “It was not the judge speaking — it was those above speaking through him.” Asked if he would appeal to President Suharto

for clemency, he said: “Never!”

“This verdict is part of a complete package. It was a foregone conclusion. Nevertheless, I will appeal,” said the still popular former gen-, eral, looking pale but healthy after 14 months in detention. Dharsono insisted his trial was politically motivated. He charged President Suharto with amassing political power through repressive and undemocratic means and of virtually outlawing any form of criticism or opposition. He said President Suharto’s economic policies had impoverished the majority while helping a mostly Chinese minority grow rich in collaboration

with bureaucrats, some members of the Armed Forces and foreign investors.

The Judge said Dharsono was being tried not for being critical of the Government but for expressing his opposition through unconstitutional means rather than approaching President Suharto himself or Parliament.

Before he was driven to jail, policemen and a lawyer heaved Dharsono on to the roof of a police van. He gave “V for victory signs” and led a sympathetic crowd of 300 in singing “Hullo Bandung,” a patriotic song from the late 1940 s war of independence against the Dutch.

The crowd repeatedly

shouted “long live Dharsono” as tense helmeted riot police with wicker shields and bamboo canes held them back.

A panel of three judges found Dharsono, aged 60, guilty on two subversion charges.

One alleged that he tried to undermine the state by co-producing a “subversive” document. It questioned the military’s account of a bloody Muslim riot in Jakarto in September, 1984, in which at least 30 people died from army gunfire and called for an independent inquiry into the incident. The other alleged that he incited at least one Muslim youth to plant three bombs in retaliation for the army shootings.

Two people died in the bombings in Jakarta’s busy Chinese district on October 4, 1984. The Judges gave no rulin on four other counts against him ranging from subversion to failing to report the bombing conspiracy. After sentencing, Dharsono told the Judges he would appeal. A crowd in the packed courtroom surrounded by anti-riot police gave three loud cheers for the defendant.

During the trial a leading dissident witness, a former Governor of Jakarta, Ali Sadikin, accused President Suharto of misusing the constitution. He charged the Armed Forces’ commander, General Benny Murdani, with ordering troops to fire

on Muslim demonstrators. Sadikin, aged 58, led the cheers in court yesterday. In 1980, he helped found the “Group of 50,” a loose dissident organisation of retired military officers, civil servants and Muslim leaders. Dharsono is not a member but is associated with the group. As commander of West Java’s crack Siliwangi army division from 1966-69, Dharsono backed Suharto’s bid for power after the 1965 communist-backed coup attempt.

In his district, he sharply curbed the public slaughter of suspected communists and ethnic Chinese by Muslim bands in the wake of the abortive coup.