Acehnese stock up before mass strike<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Acehnese packed shops and market places on the
\neve of a mass strike planned for Wednesday and Thursday to
\nprotest military violence in the troubled province, witnesses and
\nlocal journalists said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Witnesses said people were seen flocking to the shops and
\nmarkets in towns in Pidie and North Aceh.<\/p>\n
"The situation is tense... housewives were seen buying up
\nfoodstuffs and other essentials at shopping centers," a local
\njournalist told The Jakarta Post by phone from the Pidie capital
\nof Sigli, some 125 kilometers east of the provincial capital of
\nBanda Aceh.<\/p>\n
He also said troops and police were busy carrying out a door-
\nto-door campaign to persuade shop owners to stay open on
\nWednesday and Thursday.<\/p>\n
Shop owners, however, said they would only resume their
\nactivities on Friday, the journalist said.<\/p>\n
Another journalist in the North Aceh capital of Lhokseumawe
\nsaid the market was packed "just like on Hari Raya (Idul Fitri
\nMuslim celebration)", with people buying up supplies to ensure
\nthey had enough food, at least for the weekend.<\/p>\n
"People are buying cooking oil in jerricans," he said.<\/p>\n
He also said prices had dropped because traders were trying to
\nsell off stock. Cooking oil was selling at Rp 2,700 per liter,
\ncompared to the usual Rp 3,000 per liter. Onions had also dropped
\nto Rp 1,500 per kilogram, from Rp 6,000 per kilogram.<\/p>\n
The ongoing violence of the past month has hampered
\ntransportation of crops from farmers to markets and farmers are
\nexpecting devastating losses.<\/p>\n
Residents, including traders, fear that the two-day strike
\ncould be extended up to the Aug. 17 Independence Day celebration.<\/p>\n
There are rumors that supporters of the separatist Free Aceh
\nmovement will try to lower the Indonesian flag and replace it
\nwith the Free Aceh's red crescent moon and star flag.<\/p>\n
Bus drivers in Lhokseumawe said on Tuesday they were adopting
\na wait-and-see attitude as to whether they would operate on
\nWednesday and Thursday.<\/p>\n
Muhammad, a car rental owner in Banda Aceh, said there was "no
\nway" his vehicles would be leased for use outside the city area
\nduring the planned strike.<\/p>\n
"We will still (rent our cars) in Banda Aceh, but we won't go
\nout of town, the cars could be set on fire," he said.<\/p>\n
Residents said they fear nonparticipation in the strike could
\nlead to them being tagged as "antisolidarity" with the "struggle
\nof the Aceh people" against injustices, which the call for the
\nstrike refers to.<\/p>\n
Strike organizers said at a media conference in the provincial
\ncapital earlier on Tuesday that employees working in essential
\npublic services should not relinquish their duties on Wednesday
\nand Thursday.<\/p>\n
Hospitals, post offices, telecommunications offices, the media
\nand employees at essential plants, which by shutting down would
\nendanger the lives of the public, must go to work as usual, M.
\nTaufik Abda of the Aceh Students for Reform (KARMA) said.<\/p>\n
Another strike organizer, Ari Maulana, told the Post the
\nstrike was scheduled to start at 8 a.m. on Wednesday and end at 6
\np.m. on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Executives from plants in Lhokseumawe such as PT Asean Aceh
\nFertilizer and Pupuk Iskandar Muda fertilizer plant earlier
\nconveyed concerns to Governor Syamsuddin Mahmud that if a strike
\nwent ahead, disruption to electricity supplies could lead to the
\nexplosion of ammonia tanks. They said the blast from an explosion
\ncould cause damaged within a 10-kilometer radius.<\/p>\n
Students also said local government and military officials
\nhave been persuading the public to refrain from participating in
\nthe strike.<\/p>\n
Witnesses said the local government had placed a quarter page
\nadvertisement in a local paper on Monday urging the community to
\ncarry out their activities as usual.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in Jakarta and Surabaya, students rallied to
\nexpress their support for Acehnese and demand that the military
\nbe pulled out of the province.<\/p>\n
Violence between the military and suspected rebels has been on
\nthe rise in the province since early this year. More than 200
\npeople have been killed, including troops and police, prompting
\nmore than 100,000 people to flee their villages and seek shelter
\nin mosques and school buildings. (byg\/anr\/nur)<\/p>",
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