Golkar office attacked in Ujungpandang<\/p>\n
UJUNGPANDANG, South Sulawesi (JP): Resentment against Golkar
\ncontinued to be expressed on Tuesday when supporters of the
\nUnited Development Party (PPP) attacked a local office of the
\nruling party here.<\/p>\n
The supporters threw stones at the heavily guarded office and
\nsome of them were also seen attacking the office with arrows.<\/p>\n
Security personnel, however, were able to control the
\nsituation and there were no reports of injuries.<\/p>\n
In the North Sumatra capital of Medan, at least two people
\nwere injured and two cars and a house damaged in a clash between
\nsupporters of Golkar and the Indonesian Democratic Party of
\nStruggle (PDI Perjuangan) on Monday.<\/p>\n
The clash erupted after a group of Golkar supporters
\nreprimanded another group of PDI Perjuangan supporters who were
\nseen removing Golkar's flags and symbols on Jl. Jamin Ginting.<\/p>\n
In the West Sumatra capital of Padang, Golkar and PDI
\nPerjuangan supporters held street convoys in shifts to avoid a
\nhead-to-head meeting on Monday.<\/p>\n
Police also barred supporters of the two rival parties from
\nplying the same routes, with the PDI Perjuangan mass diverted to
\nthe outskirts and their Golkar counterparts staying in town.<\/p>\n
Separately, deputy secretary of the Central Java office of
\nGolkar, Sutoyo Abadi, said on Tuesday that some 5,000 flags and
\nbanners of the ruling party in Batang, Pekalongan and Semarang
\nhave either gone missing or were set on fire.<\/p>\n
In Grobogan, some 60 kilometers east of Semarang, a group of
\npassengers in a passing truck threw stones at a group of Golkar
\nsupporters in front of a cafeteria in Wirosari on Tuesday,
\ninjuring two of them.<\/p>\n
In Kudus, some 30 kilometers east of Semarang, local Golkar
\nsecretary Kurnen said a group of people wearing the symbols of
\nPDI Perjuangan were seen removing and vandalizing hundreds of
\nGolkar's flags on Monday evening.<\/p>\n
Since campaigning began on May 19, Golkar has been besieged by
\nthe public for its alleged corruption and abuse of power during
\nthe 32-year regime of former president Soeharto who resigned amid
\ndeadly riots, student protests and the country's worst economic
\ncrisis in decades last May.<\/p>\n
\"Golkar leaders' repeated statements that the party is a
\nproreform force are (so irritating that they are) only adding
\nfuel to the fire,\" political observer Sunyoto Usman from the
\nYogyakarta-based Gadjah Mada University told The Jakarta Post on
\nMonday.<\/p>\n
Analysts said the party committed \"political suicide\" when it
\nnamed President B.J. Habibie its sole presidential candidate
\nrecently. Following the revelation by Time magazine that Soeharto
\nand his family are sitting on an allegedly ill-gotten fortune of
\nUS$ 15 billion, Golkar leaders said they would reconsider
\nHabibie's nomination because of his poor record in investigating
\nSoeharto.<\/p>\n
Leader of the Southeast Sulawesi office of Golkar, Hino
\nBiohanis, however, was optimistic the ruling party would still
\nwin in the province.<\/p>\n
Southeast Sulawesi has been the ruling party's stronghold
\nwhere more than 95 percent of eligible voters supported Golkar
\nduring Soeharto's rule.<\/p>\n
Hino was quoted as saying by Antara on Tuesday that having the
\nSouth Sulawesi-born Habibie as the party's sole presidential
\ncandidate has also strengthened the party's chance of winning the
\nvote in the province.<\/p>\n
\"We believe 65 percent to 70 percent of Southeast Sulawesi's
\n900,000 eligible voters will still vote for Golkar,\" Biohanis was
\nquoted as saying.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in the Central Java district of Pegandon, some 25
\nkilometers west of the provincial capital of Semarang, one
\nsupporter of the National Awakening Party (PKB) and another of
\nthe United Development Party (PPP) were slightly injured in a
\nclash between supporters from both parties on Monday evening.<\/p>\n
A house owned by a local PKB Muslim cleric was also damaged in
\nthe clash.<\/p>\n
Local PKB official Nasikin said on Tuesday the clash erupted
\nafter supporters from both parties met in the streets on their
\nway back from party meetings earlier on Monday and began jeering
\nand throwing stones at each other.<\/p>\n
Aceh<\/p>\n
Separately, Bukit Barisan Regional Military Commander Maj.
\nGen. A. Gaffar, who oversees security in Northern Sumatra
\nincluding Aceh, admitted on Tuesday it was difficult for
\npolitical parties to campaign in the troubled province due to the
\nescalating tensions between the military and the alleged members
\nof the Free Aceh Movement.<\/p>\n
\"I must admit the situation is unstable in North Aceh, Pidie
\nand East Aceh. It is unlikely the political parties can hold
\nproper campaigning there,\" Gaffar was quoted by Antara as saying.<\/p>\n
Pidie, North Aceh and East Aceh were the three regencies which
\nhad been affected by a decade of anti-rebel military operations
\nthat were only halted last year.<\/p>\n
Residents have demanded the right to determine their future
\nthrough a referendum, a demand which has grown stronger since
\nearlier this month when security forces opened fire on protesters
\nand left 41 people dead.<\/p>\n
Resentment against the military and Jakarta has also risen
\nwith soldiers accused of widespread human rights violations
\nduring anti-rebel operations.<\/p>\n
The Free Aceh movement has been fighting for independence
\nsince the mid-1970s.<\/p>\n
A battalion of riot troops, however, was dispatched to Aceh
\nlast week to jack up voter turnout. (23\/27\/28\/29\/30\/44\/amd\/byg\/har)<\/p>",
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