23 arrested over arson, attack on journalists

23 arrested over arson, attack on journalists

TEGAL, Central Java (JP): Police have arrested 23 people in
connection with Thursday's arson of the home of a National
Mandate Party (PAN) executive, and the attack on several
journalists here.

The Central Java Police's Insp. Gen. Erwin MAP told reporters
on Friday that four of those arrested had been named suspects.

He said that what the police was handling -- the arson and the
attack on the journalists -- was "purely a criminal case."

"We don't want to interfere in anything political that might
be related to the case," he said.

Some 300 people, grouped as the Diponegoro Force and believed
to be supporters of President Abdurrahman Wahid, staged a violent
protest in Tegal on Thursday against Amien Rais, the speaker of
the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), midway through a
ceremony to inaugurate members at the party's office in Tegal.

The protesters started off by assaulting six reporters
covering the protest, injuring them all -- one suffered a severe
concussion -- and then moved on to burn PAN flags, Didi told
reporters.

Following the demonstration, protesters marched to the
residence of the newly elected chairman of PAN in Tegal, Djohan
Firdaus, in the Talang district, some four kilometers from the
local PAN office, and set fire to his furniture, motorcycle and
electronic equipment inside his home.

PAN executives arrived on Thursday at the National Police
Headquarters to formally report the Tegal incident.

From Jakarta, National Police chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro said
he has instructed the Central Java Police chief to take the
strictest action against anybody who provokes, or resorts to
creating chaos.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Didi Widayadi said the
incident could have been a result of the recent "verbal war"
among the political elite of certain parties.

"When political figures make controversial statements, those
statements are used as fuel for the masses, and the masses end up
acting on those statements, and this creates chaos," Didi said.

As of Friday, one of the journalists beaten in the protest,
Agus Wijanarko from Republika daily, was still in coma. He is in
the intensive care unit at Harapan Anda Hospital.

The other five journalists, Yon Daryono from private
television station RCTI, Thomas from private television station
TPI and Marsis from Pikiran Rakyat daily, Bambang Mudjono from
Radar Tegal as well as Sarjono from Sinar Pagi suffered numerous
injuries after they were beaten with iron bars by the protesters.

Meanwhile, the secretary of the provincial chapter of the
National Awakening Party (PKB) in Central Java, Abdul Kadir
Karding, said he regretted the incident. He said the violence was
a result of provocation by those who wanted to blemish the image
of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) and PKB.

Local NU chairman Muhammad Adnan stressed that the rally was
not organized by his organization and he believed that the
anarchy was "a spontaneous reaction of the people who see the
political elite still trying to topple President Gus Dur".

In Jakarta, both the Association of Independent Journalists
and Indonesian Journalists Association condemned the actions
taken against the reporters.

The Indonesian Police Watch also denounced the disturbance,
saying the actions were crimes and therefore the police had to
immediately launch investigations.

One of the group's executives, Rashid Harsuna Lubis, said in a
statement that his group would continuously monitor police steps
in handling the Tegal incidents "until the perpetrators of the
fray are all arrested and tried". (ylt/har/emf/45)