ABRI vows to crack down on rioters
ABRI vows to crack down on rioters
JAKARTA (JP): Armed Forces Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung vowed
yesterday to continue cracking down on rioters to restore public
order after 206 of them had been arrested as of yesterday.
Feisal said "irresponsible persons or groups" have exploited
the internal conflict in the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) to
create anarchy and threaten the nation's stability.
Feisal and senior military officers called a press conference
at the Ministry of Defense and Security to review the rioting
that broke out Saturday after the violent takeover of party
headquarters. Smaller riots continued sporadically yesterday.
On hand were Jakarta Military Commander Maj. Gen. Sutiyoso,
Chief of ABRI's Sociopolitical Affairs Lt. Gen. Syarwan Hamid,
Army Chief of Staff Gen. Hartono and city police chief Maj. Gen.
Hamami Nata.
The military leaders held the press conference after a top
leadership meeting to review the situation.
Twenty six people were injured; 22 buildings were badly
damaged, including seven banks and an agriculture ministry
building; 91 vehicles, including 5 buses, and two motorcycles
were incinerated, Sutiyoso said.
According to Sutiyoso, a Soerjadi supporter died of a heart
attack and a security guard of a state-owned bank died after
falling from the seventh floor of his vandalized office in
separate incidents during Saturday's chaos.
However, there were varying accounts of fatalities, with some
sources saying the number ranged between three to 46.
Earlier Chief of the Central Jakarta Police Lt.Col. Abubakar
Nataprawira declined to give figures, but said the victims of the
clash were taken to the police hospital in Kramatjati, East
Jakarta. Other police officers in the field said the injured were
also being treated at the Cikini Hospital and Gatot Subroto Army
Hospital.
"We anticipated all these consequences," Armed Forces Chief
Gen. Feisal Tanjung said, adding that the rioting did not spread
to other cities.
"Many houses were pelted with stones and the innocent
terrorized," Feisal said. "We are determined to continue
arrests."
Feisal said the military would not tolerate any activities
that may lead to anarchy. He also called on PDI activists to
refrain from conducting any activities that may be used by
irresponsible people.
Tensely calm
The city was tensely calm yesterday as sporadic protests over
the takeover of the PDI headquarters by a rival camp entered the
second day.
Jakarta Military Commander Maj. Gen. Sutiyoso witnessed the
arrest of 30 people protesting at the Legal Aid Institute near
PDI headquarters.
They burned wood and anything inflammable on the road near the
premises as about 200 activists gathered and chanted anti-
government slogans.
Separately, Syarwan Hamid told senior editors of local mass
media yesterday that ABRI is determined to restore public order
in Jakarta "at all costs".
When asked about the material loss caused by the riots,
Syarwan said that it was an unimportant issue because what
concerned ABRI most was the damage to Indonesia's image as a good
place for world economies to do business.
He said the ABRI leadership is currently "solid" as was
obvious from Saturday night's meeting in which all key leaders
were present.
Syarwan said earlier that the PDI's internal rift has been
exploited by interest groups wanting to create chaos and possibly
topple the government.
He mentioned some of the groups as Democratic People's Party,
Center for Labor Strife, United Indonesian People and United
Indonesian Farmers.
He pointed out that the organizations were "structurally"
identical to a number of groupings which dominated the domestic
political scene just before the 1965 abortive coup attempt by the
now-outlawed Indonesian Communist Party. (team)