Don Greenlees – Three ageing Indonesian communists, jailed after the abortive 1965 coup, were granted their freedom yesterday in a round of Independence Day amnesties designed to bolster President B.J. Habibie's claims to promoting human rights.
But the presidential decree releasing 28 political prisoners failed to include high-profile figures in the coup of September 30, 1965, including Abdul Latief, 72. East Timorese resistance leader Xanana Gusmao and People's Democratic Party leader Budiman Sudjatmiko also remain behind bars.
Despite a hardline policy on the 1965 coup plotters and members of the banned Indonesian Communist Party, Dr Habibie granted clemency to three ex-PKI members on the grounds of old age, declining health and good behaviour.
Manan Effendi, 80, Alexander Warouw, 80, and Pujo Prasetyo, 70, have been incarcerated for more than 30 years for "subversion". Their release will heighten pressure on the Government to show the same leniency to four more prominent 1965 prisoners who are also in frail health.
Colonel Latief, the most senior remaining inmate from the coup, recently suffered a stroke in jail. Three fellow 1965 prisoners have spent 30 years on death row. Six other convicted coup plotters were executed as late as 1989. The latest decree brings to almost 120 the number of political prisoners to be released since Dr Habibie replaced former president Suharto on May 21.
Despite the rush of political freedoms in the past three months, yesterday's 53rd anniversary of independence from Dutch colonial rule was a muted celebration. Outside the formal ceremonies centred on the independence monument and the presidential palace, few Indonesians, reeling from the country's worst economic crisis were in a mood to celebrate.
Predictions of more rioting – which saw many Chinese fleeing major cities over the long weekend – failed to eventuate. Nonetheless, thousands of troops were deployed in city streets to secure the peace. Among the prisoners named in yesterday's announcement were individuals jailed for their part in insurgencies in East Timor and Aceh.
Reuters reports from Beijing that groups of university students held unauthorised demonstrations outside Indonesia's embassy yesterday to mark Independence Day, but police kept the encounters cordial. Ethnic Chinese also held a day-long protest outside the Indonesian embassy in Manila.
[Despite widespread rumours, no People's Democratic Party (PRD) leaders were released on August 17 although PRD chair Budiman Sujatmiko and others had their sentences reduced by one month. Xanana Gusmao was also not released. PRD lawyers announced the news to a picket outside the prison organised by the Committee for the Preparation for the Legalisation of the PRD and the East Timorese Students Union. Budiman and Gusmao were able to address the rally of about 250 people - James Balowski.]