By James Balowski
In a statement released by Human Rights Watch/Asia dated March 10, executive director Sidney Jones described Sri Bintang Pamungkas as "a man the president finds intolerable". Jones went on to say: "He's everything that good citizens of New Order Indonesia are not supposed to be: irreverent, defiant, nonconformist, and politically fearless. By challenging curbs on freedom of expression and association, he's tried to breathe new life into an atrophied political system, and that, to Mr Suharto, is subversion."
Sri Bintang was arrested on March 5 and charged with subversion, which carries the maximum penalty of death, after he sent greeting cards calling for an election boycott to Vice President Try Sutrisno, the armed forces headquarters, the attorney-general and all cabinet ministers, among others.
The cards also opposed Suharto's re-election and demanded preparations for a post-Suharto government. Sri Bintang is refusing to answer questions by the attorney-general's office.
Well known as an outspoken member of parliament until 1995, Sri Bintang first came to international attention in February 1995, when he was sacked from parliament and arrested for a speech he gave in Berlin. Minister for political and security affairs Soesilo Soedarman suggested that Sri Bintang had publicly questioned the state ideology, Pancasila — political heresy under the regime.
The alleged statements were made at a lecture at the Berlin University of Technology. The lecture coincided with a visit to Germany by Suharto that was dogged by large and noisy demonstrations protesting Indonesia's human rights violations. Sri Bintang and two student activists were declared the "masterminds" of the demonstrations.
After no evidence was found to substantiate these charges, Sri Bintang was accused of insulting the president. Last May he was sentenced to 34 months in jail but has, until now, remained free pending an appeal.
On May 29, Sri Bintang founded the United Indonesian Democratic Party (PUDI). This was condemned by the regime as a violation of the 1973 law which allows only three political parties. He has also nominated himself as a candidate for the 1998 presidential election.
Unlike the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), which has a mass base among workers, petty traders, farmers and the urban poor, Sri Bintang's party has become a rallying point for well-known critics of the regime, many of whom have origins in the anticommunist, pro-western Indonesian Socialist Party (PSI) banned by Sukarno in the late 1950s.
The PSI still has significant influence among intellectuals, NGOs and the educated middle class. These forces refuse to organise any kind of grassroots or mass movement. The PUDI's demands and program are consistent with that approach and concentrate on "cleaning up the system" and political and judicial reform.
Sri Bintang is one of the few well-known opposition figures to openly support, as a witness, the People's Democratic Party (PRD) members currently on trial for subversion. In the trial of PRD secretary-general Petrus Haryanto on January 16, when asked if he had heard Petrus make anti-government statements, Sri Bintang retorted, "It's the other way round; PUDI is the one that explicitly wants to overthrow the government. I am really the rebel!".
In an interview with Radio Australia on October 11, Sri Bintang said, referring to the upcoming general election, "I am prepared to lead [a movement to] overthrow a regime which has been in power long enough". He also confirmed newspaper reports quoting him as saying that the regime is totalitarian and fascist.
Asked about the trials of the PRD members and labour advocate Muchtar Pakpahan, Sri Bintang replied that the regime was seeking a scapegoat — perhaps himself. "It is a big mistake for the government to continually use the accusation of communism, because in the end society itself will become immune to it".
[For more information see ASIET (Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor) NetNews on the internet — an English language weekly news digest compiled from conferences and news groups on Indonesia and East Timor that also includes translations of reports otherwise unavailable in English. To subscribe (free), send an e-mail message to James Balowski at jbalowski@peg.apc.org.]