75% eligible voters sign up in Maluku

JAKARTA (JP): Campaigning and election preparations continued on Friday in the trouble spots of Aceh and Maluku, but came to a standstill for the second day in a row in at least one town in Irian Jaya, which has recently witnessed an upsurge of separatism.

In Banda Aceh, the capital of Aceh, Golkar chairman Akbar Tandjung managed to attract an estimated 5,000 participants to his campaign gathering. The huge turn up was unusual, as most other parties have canceled activities because of widespread rejection by the Acehnese of the June 7 general election.

Akbar said his party would fight to meet Acehnese demands for wide-ranging autonomy if it won the elections.

Golkar, however, "does not support the call for a referendum," he said. "Indonesia is a unitary state which includes Aceh. Aceh helped it gain its independence, there's no way Aceh could be separated (from the republic.)"

Also in Banda Aceh, the Ministry of Defense's secretary- general Lt. Gen. Fachrul Razy said it was impossible for Indonesia to consider a referendum and eventual independence for Aceh.

He pointed out that the province is made up of various ethnic groups. "If it became independent, then certain regencies (dominated by certain ethnic groups) would also demand separation."

Separately, in the North Sumatra capital of Medan, Bukit Barisan Regional Military Command spokesman Lt. Col. H. Nurdin Sulistyo said the Indonesian Military had no intention of provoking Acehnese, or preventing election campaigning in the province.

Sulistyo was quoted by Antara as responding to a news report that authorities would be unable to hold polls in North Aceh due to interruptions from armed groups.

Muslim leader Abdurrahman Wahid described on Friday how officials had been threatened and were unable to sit on election committees. He said threats came from paid retired officers grouped in the "Taliban movement" as well as from the Free Aceh Movement.

Sulistyo, however, said the military and police in Aceh remained consistent in their opposition to the "security disturbance activists... who often turn residents into human shields so they can freely shoot at security personnel, even at the expense of the innocent people".

Meanwhile, Pidie Police chief Lt. Col. Siswandi said those responsible for attacking United Development Party (PPP) supporters were still at large.

Twelve alleged members of the separatist Free Aceh Movement kidnapped four PPP campaign workers and set their vehicle on fire to protest the elections in Geulumpang Tiga district in Pidie regency, Aceh, on Thursday.

Meanwhile, about 75 percent of the riot-torn Maluku's 1,2 million eligible voters have signed up for the polls, Antara reported on Friday. The voter registration period ended on Friday,

In capital city of Ambon alone, 59 percent of some 205,000 eligible voters have signed up for the elections. Minister of Home Affairs Syarwan Hamid is scheduled to visit the capital of Maluku on Saturday to check on election preparations.

More than 300 people have been killed in months of clashes between Muslims and Christians in the province which first erupted in Ambon in mid-January.

In the Irian Jaya town of Manokwari, some 500 kilometers west of the provincial capital Jayapura, campaigning activities have been halted for the past two days. Thousands of people took to the streets to protest the death of Nataniel Sawaky, 16, who was allegedly tortured by police while he was held in detention.

Nataniel's father, Onisimus Sawaky, 67, said his son died at the Manokwari General Hospital on Thursday. The hospital confirmed that Nataniel died from trauma to the back of the head caused by a blunt object.

Onisimus quoted Nataniel as saying on Wednesday police hit his head with a rifle butt after he was arrested on drunk and disorderly charges on Monday.

Manokwari Police chief Lt. Col. R.T. Hutabarat, however, denied the allegation and said Nataniel fell from the police truck as he attempted to flee police. (34/39/byg)