Review of Indonesian and Malayan Affairs, vols 1-2 (1967-68), p. 271: the Yap Thiam Hien affair and Trees Sunito

Title: Review of Indonesian and Malayan Affairs (1967-68) - Mahmillub trials, Trees Sunito counsel for Njono [HathiTrust mdp.39015066177976 seq 271] Source: HathiTrust Digital Library (full view), page OCR text via text-only view Volume: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015066177976 Date retrieved: 2026-10-19 Note: page-image download returned 403 (HathiTrust image downloads blocked); OCR text only. Review of Indonesian and Malayan affairs, v.1-2 1967-1968. | HathiTrust Digital Library View this item in the Book Viewer Use of this online version is subject to all U.S. copyright laws. Please do not save or redistribute this file. For questions or comments, contact HathiTrust.org at [email protected] You have one page at a time access to this item. Authenticated members of HathiTrust institutions who have a print disability may have full-text access to this item. Login to determine if you have access and see all volumes that are available when searching. For more information, see HathiTrust Accessibility. Page at a time access to this item is also available via our fully-styled HathiTrust interface. Full Bibliographic Information Title Review of Indonesian and Malayan affairs, v.1-2 1967-1968. Published Sydney[s.n.]-1982. Description v.25 cm. Rights Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives. Permanent URL https://hdl.handle.net/2027/mdp.39015066177976 Page #271 Djakarta Military Command's Team for Investigating Baperki Documents both emphasising Yap's anti-Communism (14). The denouement of the Yap affair is no less interesting than its beginning. The head of the Police Ipoleksos section announced that if proof were given of Yap's anti-communism, he would be willing to resign. Later, when it seemed likely that Yap's innocence had been established, he saw fit to review this challenge (15). Accusations and counter-accusations were made, even within the Armed Forces. On one occasion Djohan Arifin tactlessly asserted that the Mahmillub trials had been infiltrated by the FKI, referring no doubt to Trees Sunito (who defended Njono), and Yap Thiam Hien. This was strongly denied by the Mahmillub Chairman, Lt. Col. Ali Said, who stressed that counsel had been legally and formally appointed by the authorities, and that, after all, the decisions reached had hardly been a victory for the Communists. In turn, Ali Said noted how slow the police had been in compiling information (16). As for Yap's former opponent in the Subandrio trial, army prosecutor Lt. Col. Durmawel Achmad, he was astonished and distressed at the arrest. Probably few people outside the government know how Yap came to be released. The delegation of the Servants of Law, sent to "introduce themselves" to Suharto, reported that his view on the Yap affair was "good". When Adam Malik was asked why Yap had been released from his house, the Foreign Minister replied diplomatically "I know Yap, don't I?" However, he also said he was convinced of Yap's innocence (17). There are many loose ends and unanswered questions in this affair. For example, what happened to the evidence presented on Yap's behalf, which was never mentioned by the police? How could police authorities have been aware of this and so badly estimated public reaction? The Chief of Police Information boldly announced that there would be no hesitation in taking action against the two police/legal officers involved (Simand juntak and Mardjaman), were Yap's allegations proved correct. These two promptly sued Yap for slander (18). But Yap has still to be brought to trial. Yap was not allowed to leave Indonesia recently when he wished to attend a legal conference in Kuala Lumpur. On the other hand, one of the five key figures in the Quick case, Mrs. Lies, flew to Hong Kong some time ago. Does the Yap affair demonstrate the triumph of law in Indonesia? Many concluded that Yap's release was a good omen. It was obvious that a spontaneous public reaction, not propelled by "gerpol", had been heeded by the authorities. According to some observers, the freedom and rights of the individual had been defended and upheld (19). Others, however, questioned whether Yap should have been released in response to public pressure, rather than by normal legal procedure. It was argued that "thousands of Yaps" were not