Jakarta – Three jailed Indonesian politicians were in a critical condition in a police hospital Tuesday after staging a week-long hunger strike, their lawyer said.
"Until late last night, the condition of Budiman [Sujatmiko] was very bad ... he is being fed intravenously in hospital," lawyer Johnson Panjaitan of the Indonesian Legal Aid Council said.
Sujatmiko, the head of the once-outlawed People's Democratic Party and PRD members Ignatius Pranowo and Jakob Eko Kurniawan have all been admitted to the police Kramatjati hospital.
Four other members of the party have joined them in the hunger strike which began on Tuesday of last week.
Officials of the Cipinang prison in East Jakarta allowed two of the strikers to be taken to hospital Sunday, and Budiman was rushed there Monday after he vomited blood.
Panjaitan said the jailed members of PRD, which was outlawed as subversive under the government of former president Suharto, were striking to demand that the government hold fair and honest general elections.
The elections, the first since the resignation of Suharto in May, 1998, are scheduled for June 7.
"They demand that the election process is carried out fair and honestly and without violence. That also includes not having ministers campaigning in the elections," Panjaitan said.
Justice Minister Muladi dismissed the strike as "weird," the Jakarta Post daily said. "His demand is weird. [The poll] has not yet happened, we are all fussing about the issue ... just how could we meet such a demand?" the Post quoted Muladi as saying. "Free and fair is a sure thing. And I ... am risking all to make it happen," he added.
"Budiman said that the goverment treats the elections like a project. With ministers allowed to campaign and doing much of if before the allotted time, this is already a breach in a fair election, that is just one aspect of it," he added.
Panjaitan said the justice ministry had ignored his clients' demands. "They have paid no attention whatsoever," he said. He identified the other four hunger strikers as Suroso, Petrus Aryanto, Garda Sembiring and Anom Astika.
Two physicians brought to Cipinang jail by Panjaitan on Sunday had suggested that Kurniawan, Budiman, Pranowo and Suroso be hospitalized immediately, the lawyer said.
"Especially Suroso who has also been coughing blood, but the prison itself has to make a recommendation [to the correctional facilities administration] for him to be taken to hospital. I guess they won't do it until after they collapse first," Panjaitan added. Panjaitan also said Astika also had a kidney condition.
The government of President B.J. Habibie has legalized the PRD, and it too is contesting the June 7 polls. Budiman, who is serving a 13-year sentence on subversion charges, has rejected a presidential pardon, saying he should instead receive a complete amnesty, as he had committed no crime.