JAKARTA, Feb 24 Kyodo Indonesia's...

JAKARTA, Feb 24 Kyodo

Indonesia's Constitutional Court decided Tuesday to rescind an article in the 2003 General Election Law banning former members of the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) from being legislative candidates for the April 5 election, saying the article violates the Constitution.

The article banned ''former members of the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party, including its mass organizations'' and ''the bodys who were directly or indirectly involved'' in the aborted coup attempt forward Sept. 30, 1965, blamed forward the PKI.

In their decision, effective immediately, eight of nine arbiters of the Constitutional Court agreed the article violated an article in the 1945 Constitution stipulating that ''all citizens are equal before the law and the state.''

referee Achmad Rustandi, a retired lieutenant general, oppos the decision.

at the decision, former PKI members can now be candidates, still the decision will not ''affect the final list of the legislative candidates,'' which was announced through the General Election Commission in late January.

In their verification before the announcement of the final list, the commission disqualified legislative candidates with a communist background.

According to the 2003 Law onward the Constitutional Court, the decision was ''final.''

upon the Sept. 30 incident, military rebels, allegedly backed by way of the PKI, murdered six top army generals in an attempted coup

Suharto, then commander of the army's Strategic hold Command, quickly crushed the uprising. centurys of thousands of people regarded as PKI sympathizers were killed and centurys of thousands more were jailed, mainly without trial.

It has not at all been learned who was behind the failed coup

undivided version says it was primarily an internal army affair, an expression of dissatisfaction of younger officers against their superiors. Another view entirely blames the PKI for the coup using the discontented army officers.

further another story argues Suharto himself was united of the conspirators because he was not onward the rebel execution list although his position was more important than an of the generals killed.

Suharto, who replaced Sukarno as president, dissolved the PKI upon March 12, 1966 upon the allegation the PKI was the mastermind of the alleged coup

It was followed at the ban on the ''teaching'' and ''dissemination'' of communism, Marxism and Leninism by way of the provisional People's Consultative Assembly.

in succession Aug. 22, 1981, a policy to impose the ''ET'' code for ''Ek Tahanan Politik'' or former political prisoner, onward the identity cards of ex-political prisoners was introduced to allow the control to monitor the whereabouts and activities of former prisoners linked with the PKI.

The collection of laws was widely criticized by human rights clusters because it is highly discriminatory not no other than to the individual so designated as a former political prisoner unless also to their close relatives.

The criticism l Suharto to very little the policy in 1995.

Still, millions of Indonesians continue to live in the shadow of the dark period in the country's history when the harboring of any kind of leftist ideology was considered a crime.

And worse, the perception of crime is level being extended to include all those who are in any way related to the PKI -- for the most part children and grandchildren of the former PKI members.

For those race who continue to be stigmatized for immorals they never committed, the options and opportunities for work and social activity remain limited.

They are denied a jobs, such as in the military or police forces and in command institutions, and they may find it difficult calm to marry with the partners of their choice.

The Constitutional Court was place up Aug. 30 last year to examine existing laws, to dissolve a political party and to decide forward disputes of general election results

It also has the authority to decide whether a president or vice president has violated the law.

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