300 people protest Golkar's campaign

SURAKARTA, Central Java (JP): Some 300 people staged a peaceful rally yesterday to protest against what they claimed to be a blatant political campaign by Golkar, the ruling political organization, in violation of the electoral laws.

The demonstrators have established the Movement Against "Yellownization", a reference to Golkar's color, which they said has become over-dominating in Central Java in recent weeks.

The demonstrators included students, artists, workers and farmers, some of them hailing from Medan, Semarang, Jakarta, Cilacap and Madiun.

They converged on the Sebelas Maret University campus for the rally, with some of their leaders condemning Golkar for what they perceived as "illicit" electioneering ahead of time.

The 1985 electoral law stipulates that electioneering is only permitted about one month before the general election.

Similar complaints have been echoed by both minority parties, the United Development Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party, who say that the activities of Golkar chairman Harmoko, in stomping across the nation in the past year, each time receiving huge media coverage, amounted to electioneering.

Harmoko has denied the accusation.

He said that his travels across the nation have been to meet with Golkar cadres ahead of the 1997 general election. Because of Golkar's huge following, such meetings quite often had to be conducted in open fields, or sports stadiums.

Wherever Harmoko went, Golkar's yellow color greeted him, leading to the coining of the phrase of "Yellownization". Many of the flags have remained in place long after Harmoko left town.

Some local officials have defended the flying of Golkar's color, saying that this is also the appropriate color to mark Indonesia's 50th independence anniversary.

The demonstrators tried yesterday to march to the Surakarta legislative council, to convey their displeasure at the "Yellownization" campaign. They failed in their mission because their path was blocked by about 100 police officers in anti-riot gear.

A clash was avoided after the demonstrators decided to return to the university and continue their protest within the campus.

Bambang Cahyo, one of coordinators of the demonstration, told The Jakarta Post that similar protests against "Yellownization" would be held in other cities in the future.

He cited Semarang, Cilacap and Ungaran, as well as cities outside the Central Java province, like Surabaya, Medan and Jakarta as places where they planned to hold "Anti- Yellownization" protests. (har/emb)