Security tightened after three murders in Buleleng<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Two Bali villages remained under tight security
\non Saturday after three people were killed in a riot on Friday,
\nAntara reported.<\/p>\n
Police said 18 supporters of the Indonesian Democratic Party
\n(PDI) under Megawati Soekarnoputri were injured.<\/p>\n
Police in Denpasar identified the fatalities as I Made
\nSukasana, 55, a farmer; I Tamat, 60, also a farmer; and I Putu
\nArta, 40, the head of the Cempaga village where the riot took
\nplace, about 120 kilometers north of Denpasar.<\/p>\n
\"Everything's still under investigation,\" an officer told The
\nJakarta Post in response to questions of what caused the
\nincident.<\/p>\n
Antara quoted Buleleng Police chief Lt.Col. Nasser Amir as
\nsaying that 25 houses were damaged and five cars set on fire.<\/p>\n
The chairman of the PDI provincial branch, Ida Bagus Putu
\nWesnawa, told the Post that Sukasana and Tamat were PDI
\nsupporters.<\/p>\n
Asked whether the incident was politically motivated, he said
\nhis office was conducting an investigation into the matter.<\/p>\n
He said that until more was known, the incident was considered
\n\"a brawl between villagers\".<\/p>\n
Putu Wesnawa said the three victims were buried at 11 a.m.
\nlocal time on Saturday in their respective villages. The
\nsituation was still tense on Saturday night, with six platoons
\nguarding the area.<\/p>\n
He said two other PDI members who had been reported missing --
\nIda Komang Yudana and I Ketut Moder -- had returned home.<\/p>\n
He said the clash started on Thursday when seven PDI
\nsupporters from Banjar village visited a sick PDI executive in
\nCempaga, six kilometers away.<\/p>\n
Following their arrival at about 10 p.m., Putu Wesnawa said
\nthe house of I Made Suwija, the executive of the party's Banjar
\ndistrict, was surrounded by hundreds of unidentified people
\nthreatening to attack the PDI members.<\/p>\n
Other PDI supporters came to help, he said, but they were also
\ntrapped by people from neighboring villages. In the clash that
\nlasted until dawn, Putu Wesnawa said two PDI supporters were
\nkilled, two went missing, while the Cempaga village head, I Putu
\nArta, was reportedly mobbed when he was passing PDI supporters in
\nBanjar.<\/p>\n
A meeting between PDI and Golkar executives on Friday night
\nconcluded that the clash was not one between political groups,
\nand that they would work together to prevent similar incidents.<\/p>\n
Police chief Nasser also said four people believed to have
\ninstigated the strife were being questioned.<\/p>\n
Also on Friday, a clash among residents occurred in Rembang,
\nCentral Java, leading to six injured and the burning of one
\nvillage office. Three homes were also damaged by hundreds of
\npeople expressing anger over the results of a village head
\nelection. The supporters of a village head candidate were told
\ntheir candidate, Amari, running for Banoan village head in Sarang
\ndistrict, did not pass the selection test.<\/p>\n
Sarang district head Asrori, said Saturday that about 200 of
\nAmari's supporters suddenly attacked and burned the village
\noffice, the election site and three homes. They then approached a
\nmosque and school. \"But then they were blocked by a crowd of
\nresidents and the clash occurred,\" Asrori said, adding that the
\ninjured were still in hospital. The clash involved stones,
\nsharpened bamboo staves and other weapons, he said. (imn\/anr\/har)<\/p>",
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