Death Sentences

During the first months of 1966 a communist leader, Njoto, was brought for trial and accused among other things of having organised the recruitment of members of pro-PKI mass organisations to support the coup at Halim. He denied the charges but was found guilty and sentenced to death. Later that year, other trials took place, notably that of Dr Subandrio who had been President Sukarno's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister. He, too, was sentenced to death.

Meanwhile, the PKI and all its mass organisations had been declared illegal and those of its leaders who had escaped attest went underground. During the last months of 1966 and the first months of 1967, a new wave of arrests was launched against PKI members who were working to revive the party. When the underground movement in Jakarta was effectively crushed, efforts were made to create a PKI base in Blitar, East Java This, too, was suppressed, and in 1968 there followed yet another wave of arrests.

While some of those arrested are alleged to have broken the law, a large number were detained simply because of their past association with the PKI or its mass organisations at a time when these organisations were still legal. Prisoners are classified into three main categories: the 'A' group, against whom there is enough evidence, in the Government's view, to warrant their being charged and brought to trial; the 'B' group, firmly believed by the Government to have been PKI leaders or activists and therefore 'traitors' but against whom no charges can be laid because of lack of evidence, and who are to be detained indefinitely without trial; and the 'C' group, composed of followers of the PKI and who, according to the Government, are scheduled for release. In addition, there is an 'X' category, consisting of those who have not yet been classified as 'A', 'B' or 'C' or whose former classification is up for reconsideration.