Golkar says East Timor is not up for debate<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Golkar chairman Harmoko fired up a campaign
\nrally in the East Timor town of Baucau by blasting people who
\ntried to bring the province's integration to the fore during
\nlocal election debates.<\/p>\n
Any discourse on the issue of integration is irrelevant as the
\npeople of the former Portuguese colony opted to integrate into
\nIndonesia 21 years ago, Harmoko told hundreds of supporters
\npacking the Baucau sports hall.<\/p>\n
\"Golkar asserts firmly that this issue is finished,\" Harmoko
\ntold a crowd made up mostly of youths. \"Nobody can persuade
\nothers to reopen the case, or else they will have to contend with
\nGolkar and all Indonesian people.\"<\/p>\n
East Timor became the country's 27th and youngest province in
\n1976. The May 29 general election will be the fourth for the East
\nTimorese.<\/p>\n
Deputy chairman Pinantun Hutasoit accompanied Harmoko as he
\ndistributed gifts to supporters. Yesterday he gave his short-
\nsleeved jacket in the party color of yellow to a female student,
\nVictoria, unaware that his comb and several Rp 20,000 (US$8.3)
\nnotes were still in the pockets.<\/p>\n
Harmoko also said during the rally that the desire for
\nindependence was both human instinct and a religious calling.<\/p>\n
\"That's why East Timor's integration should be deemed a
\nblessing of God,\" said Harmoko, who is also the information
\nminister.<\/p>\n
Warm welcome<\/p>\n
In another Golkar rally in Medan, deputy chairwoman Siti
\nHardiyanti Rukmana received a warm welcome from thousands of the
\nparty supporters who braved a downpour to turn the Merdeka field
\ninto a sea of yellow.<\/p>\n
Tutut, as Hardiyanti is better known, said Golkar was
\ncommitted to leading the Indonesian people to \"a wealthy, just
\nand corruption-free nation.\"<\/p>\n
The Moslem-based United Development Party (PPP) stirred up an
\nestimated 5,000 supporters in Martapura, South Kalimantan by
\ndenouncing shabby law enforcement and the absence of equality
\nbefore the law.<\/p>\n
\"The laws should apply for everybody, including high ranking
\ngovernment officials,\" campaign speaker Zain Badjeber said.<\/p>\n
He lashed out at government officials for the \"arrogance and
\nbelittling of the law\" which had caused glaring abuse of judicial
\nprocedures. He cited the unsolved murder of journalist Udin in
\nYogyakarta last year and the bizarre escape of convicted tycoon
\nEdy Tansil from a Jakarta prison. Tansil is still at large.<\/p>\n
\"If the laws have supremacy over power, everybody will be
\nwilling to abide by the law and respect legal institutions,\"
\nBadjeber said.<\/p>\n
The party's color of green is expected to dominate the capital
\ntoday, with chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum scheduled to speak at
\nthe Jakarta Fairground in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Rusjdi Hamka, the chief of the party's Jakarta chapter, said
\nPPP's election campaigning today would be blessed with luck
\nbecause it falls on a holiday. The last PPP campaign in Java,
\nMaluku and Irian Jaya was on Thursday, when Indonesians observed
\nboth the Ascension Day of Jesus Christ and the Islamic New Year
\nof 1418 Hijra.<\/p>\n
In Bandung, chairman of the government-sanctioned faction of
\nIndonesian Democratic Party (PDI) Soerjadi predicted an increase
\nin the party's votes in the May 29 election despite \"certain
\npeople's efforts to undermine us\".<\/p>\n
\"The number of frustrated supporters in PDI who have shifted
\ntheir allegiance is small compared to that of first-time voters
\nwho will vote for the party,\" Soerjadi said.<\/p>\n
A throng of PDI supporters jammed the streets around the venue
\nof the rally in Cimahi, some seven kilometers east of the West
\nJava capital of Bandung.<\/p>\n
A score of loyalists of the party's deposed leader Megawati
\nSoekarnoputri joined the rally. Instead of becoming angry at the
\ngroup's chants in support if Megawati, Soerjadi asked them to
\nstand near him until the end of the rally.<\/p>\n
The PDI also held indoor and open rallies in Jakarta's five
\nmayoralties. Four journalists and two retired colleagues were the
\nparty speakers at a rally at the Pulogadung stadium, East
\nJakarta.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in Dili, East Timor, PDI branch chief Gabriel da
\nCosta announced that the party would suspend all but two election
\nrallies in the predominantly Catholic province today in
\nobservance of Sunday holy masses.<\/p>\n
Da Costa told Antara news agency that rallies would go on in
\nMetinato, 12 kilometers east of here, and in Atauro Isle, 72 sea
\nmiles north of the province, in the afternoon. (21\/33\/imn\/amd)<\/p>",
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