wfn.org | Good Friday Strengthens Indonesian Activist

[CAROL_FOUKE.parti@ecunet.org (CAROL FOUKE)]

National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
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45NCC5/14/98                  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

GOOD FRIDAY STRENGTHENED INDONESIA STUDENT LEADER'S
RESOLVE

 NEW YORK, May 13 -- It was Good Friday, and Pius
Lustrilanang of Indonesia, leader of a prominent student
group opposed to President Suharto, had just been
released from his two-month nightmare of abduction at
gunpoint, torture and imprisonment by Indonesian
security forces.

 When his captors let him go, they threatened him and
his family with death unless he remained silent forever.
But as he sat in church and meditated on the Cross, his
resolve was strengthened to continue working for political
and economic reform.  "Jesus sacrificed Himself," he
reflected.  "I can give some of myself."  His family
supported his decision.

 Mr. Lustrilanang, 30, a Roman Catholic, fled
Indonesia in late April, arrived in the United States last
week and immediately embarked on a cross-country itinerary
of meetings with U.S. government officials, media
appearances and speaking engagements.  He told his story in
New York today (May 13) at a briefing sponsored by the
National Council of Churches.

"There will be no political or economic reform in
Indonesia without bringing Suharto down," Mr. Lustrilanang
said.  "Anyone who says there is no leader to replace
Suharto is wrong.  Foreign investors, who want stability,
need to realize that by supporting Suharto it means there
will be no stability.  The events of the last two months
make this clear."

One of Mr. Lustrilanang's first appointments in the
United States was at the U.S. State Department, where he
asked them to press Suharto "not to use violence against
the students.  We want a peaceful dialogue to solve the
problem, and we want to choose our own leaders freely.  I
also asked the State Department to plan for the post-
Suharto era.  And I asked the U.S. government not to give
any more unconditional aid to the Suharto regime."

"Demand political reform and improvement in human
rights," he said.  "If the U.S. gives aid through the IMF
(International Monetary Fund) without conditions it means
the U.S. supports the regime and is against democracy and
human rights."

U.S. churches should "prepare to support the
Indonesian people in a humanitarian manner," Mr.
Lustrilanang said.  "In the near future there will be a
lack of food and other basics as a result of the unstable
political situation."  (There already is a serious food
shortage in Indonesia, and Church World Service, the NCC's
humanitarian response ministry, has initiated a large food
relief program in Sulawesi.)  He further asked U.S.
churches to encourage their Indonesian counterparts to open
their doors to the students.  "They need protection," he
said.

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