Suharto's prisoners
There are now 20 members of the People's Democratic Party (PRD) in prison, as well as Muchtar Pakpahan from the SBSI union federation and Hendrik Sirait, an activist with PIJAR (Information Centre for Reform and Action). Most prominent among those arrested from the PRD are its president, Budiman Sujatmiko, and Dita Sari, president of the PRD's trade union, the PPBI (Indonesian Centre for Labour Struggles.)
Many Green Left Weekly readers will have read or heard interviews with Budiman or Dita Sari but will be less familiar with other activists of the PRD. Below we reprint information issued by the PRD on August 13 regarding some of the arrested.
Sukarni Budi Kasih, known by the nickname Barnie among friends and local activists, is a 21-year-old history student at Gajah Mada State University, Yogyakarta. A member of SMID (Student Solidarity for Indonesian Democracy) since 1995, she has been arrested several times, once when she joined the sit-in with East-Timorese at the Dutch embassy on December 7, 1995. She was also active in support of the PDI's (Indonesian Democratic Party) central council led by Megawati Sukarnoputri. Sukarni Budi Kasih was arrested by the military on August 6. She has so far not been allowed access to lawyers.
Syamsul Bahri, 23, is an economics student at the March 11th University, Surakarta. He has been involved in the struggle for students' political rights and democracy, taken part in students' actions in Surakarta as well as in struggles by local factory workers, including the action by 14,000 workers of PT Sritex garment factory on December 11, 1995. He was taking part in obligatory social action internships for advanced students in a rural area when he was arrested by police on information provided by the university head's office. After being interrogated at the Yogyakarta and Surakarta regional police headquarters, he was delivered to the Greater Jakarta Metropolitan Police.
Didit Sutopo, 23, studies history at the Faculty of Literature, March 11th University, Surakarta. Didit has also been active in solidarity with workers' activities, including the Sritex strike, which was attacked and violently dispersed by the military. He was arrested in his boarding house on August 5.
Budi Pratomois a student at the Islamic Muhamadiyah University, Yogyakarta. He was arrested by detectives of the Central Java police on August 6 and handed over to the Jakarta metropolitan police. According to Munir, secretary of the operational section of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute (YLBHI), Budi Pratomo and Syamsul Bahri have officially been made chief suspects and have received warrants of detention. The warrants state that the two are suspected of "the criminal act of insulting the President, of making pronouncements of hostility towards and hatred of the government" when speaking on a free speech platform at the PDI premises in Jakarta.
Lisa Febrianti, 23, is a student at Airlangga University, Surabaya. Lisa, nicknamed Icha, studies at the university's faculty of social and political sciences and is secretary of the SMID's Surabaya branch. She is renowned for her courage and was one of those at the front of the 20,000-strong workers' protest on July 8 in Surabaya. At that time she was arrested along with Dita Sari, but later released. She is a student well-known for her critical attitude in social and political matters. She was arrested by the East Java Bakorstanas (an official body coordinating the maintenance of "national stability").
Zainal Abidin, 24, was a student at Wijaya Kusuma University, Surabaya, and has taken an active part in struggles for students' rights and democratic liberties. He has taken part in a peasants' action at Singosari and in a strike by 20,000 workers at Tandes, Surabaya, on July 8. At the Surabaya protest he was mishandled by the military, suffering head injuries and needing eight stitches. He was arrested at his home by men from Bakorstanas. So far he has been kept in isolation, and neither journalists nor his lawyer have been able to see him.
Trio Johanes Muliate Marpaung, 23, is a student at Airlangga University, Surabaya, and a leading member of SMID's Surabaya branch. He has taken part several times in mass actions in Surabaya. He was actively involved in a mass action by 4000 workers in March as well as the action of 20,000 workers in July.