Angry mob vandalizes LBH office<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Hundreds of people attacked the Indonesian Legal
\nAid Institute (LBH) office here in front of dozens of police
\nofficers who had been alerted in advance, activists said on
\nMonday.<\/p>\n
LBH's secretary Dadang Trisasongko told reporters that the
\npeople from the so-called People's Voice Committee smashed the
\noffice's main entrance and several windows.<\/p>\n
\"They came here at noon on 11 public buses, demanding, among
\nother things, the office return about 200 workers of textile
\nmanufacturer PT Tyfountex to Surakarta, Central Java,\" Dadang
\nsaid, adding the office had been sheltering the workers while
\nthey struggled to resolve a dispute arising from their dismissal.<\/p>\n
In a statement made available to the media, the group accused
\nthe workers as rioters from \"out of town\" who had gone to the
\noffice under the pretext of \"seeking justice\".<\/p>\n
Dadang said that the office was also accused of neglecting a
\nnumber of cases, including the Tanjung Priok incident in 1984
\nwhen the security forces opened fire at hundreds of Moslem
\nprotesters.<\/p>\n
\"However, the fact is that it was LBH personnel, who were
\namong the first to stand up for the victims at the time,\" Dadang
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Dadang said the people smashed the windows and vandalized the
\nmain entrance while their representatives were inside presenting
\ntheir demands to LBH members.<\/p>\n
\"Police were already here when the people began to ransack
\n(the building) but they did nothing to stop the violence,\" Dadang
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Labor activist Teten Masduki said that during the incident, he
\nrushed to the nearby Menteng police station and asked the senior
\nofficer Capt. Sudiman to either identify the perpetrators or the
\ngroup leader, but he refused to do so.<\/p>\n
\"He worried that the action would only incite further unrest,\"
\nTeten said.<\/p>\n
Central Jakarta Police chief Lt. Col. Iman Harjatna, who was
\nalso seen at the scene, echoed the same sentiment, saying that
\nmass arrests would only exacerbate the situation.<\/p>\n
\"If we made any arrests, the situation could have got worse,\"
\nIman said.<\/p>\n
One of LBH's founders, Adnan Buyung Nasution, who arrived at
\nthe office shortly after the incident, phoned Jakarta Police
\nchief Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman to complain about the
\nincident.<\/p>\n
\"Why did the police let this happen while they were already
\nhere... it seemed that there was some kind of conspiracy,\" an
\nagitated Buyung told Noegroho.<\/p>\n
LBH is known to be highly critical of the government and is
\nconsidered one of the leading non-governmental organizations
\ncampaigning for democracy and human rights.<\/p>\n
Ucup, one of the protesters, admitted that his group had
\nstaged the protest at businessman Arifin Panigoro's residence in
\nSouth Jakarta on Oct. 3.<\/p>\n
The mob, claiming to be members of the People's Savior Front,
\npelted stones at the businessman's luxury property on Jl.
\nJenggala, smashing windows of the house and Arifin's two cars,
\nincluding a Mercedes-Benz sedan.<\/p>\n
Ucup, a pedicab driver who lives in Warakas, North Jakarta,
\nalso admitted that he had participated in a number of
\ndemonstrations.<\/p>\n
He said the earlier demonstrations were discussed two or three
\ndays before the scheduled day.<\/p>\n
He said that he was invited by his friend to gather at a pre-
\ndetermined place in Warakas early in the morning.<\/p>\n
\"I was told that the demonstration was to protest the high
\nprices of basic essentials,\" he said, while eating a packed lunch
\noutside the LBH office.<\/p>\n
He said the \"coordinators\" of the protest distributed
\nheadbands and food on the way to LBH. (byg\/jun)<\/p>",
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