Adi Sasono dismissed from Golkar
JAKARTA (JP): A plenary meeting of Golkar on Sunday dismissed Minister of Cooperatives and Small Enterprises Adi Sasono from the party for his alleged involvement in the People's Sovereignty Party (PDR).
He was deemed to have neglected his duties as Golkar's coordinator in Central Java and as its cooperatives and small enterprises chief, Antara quoted party leader Akbar Tandjung as saying.
Akbar said Slamet Effendi Yusuf was named the party's new coordinator in the province and manpower minister Fahmi Idris the new cooperatives and small enterprises coordinator.
He acknowledged the main reason behind Adi's dismissal was his involvement in PDR's founding earlier this year.
"When I was visiting the regions, I received reports that Adi has been turning to PDR," Akbar said.
PDR is widely associated with Adi, who has denied any formal link despite one-page party advertisements carrying his picture and identifying him as the party's prospective president.
The Urban Poor Consortium (UPC), a non-governmental network, has accused PDR and the ruling Golkar of misusing a US$800 million poverty alleviation program for their election campaigns.
In the North Sumatra capital of Medan, chairman of the United Development Party (PPP) Hamzah Haz said on Saturday that he would resign if the party failed to win 20 percent of the vote in the June elections.
"I realize that reaching that target is difficult, but we are optimistic since the party is still trusted by supporters in urban and rural areas," Hamzah told about 10,000 supporters.
Medan was a ghost town on Sunday due to the absence of street rallies. All parties contesting the polls agreed to take a break in observance of Buddha's Day of Enlightenment. Most cities across the country also were free of noisy truckloads and motorcycle riders of party supporters.
Exceptions were Bandung in West Java and Ambon in Maluku, where supporters of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) defied the holiday agreement.
The chairman of Medan's Justice Party chapter, Sigit Purnomo Asri, questioned the parties' commitment to the rules on observance of the holiday.
"Probably (today) they are just regrouping and consolidating supporters for the rest of the campaign season," Sigit said.
In Kendal, Central Java, Muslim leader Abdurrahman Wahid of the National Awakening Party (PKB) pledged on Sunday to redress the fiscal imbalance between regional and central governments.
Abdurrahman, popularly known as Gus Dur, told tens of thousands that if the party won it would authorize local governments to manage 75 percent of their revenues.
The central government has been accused of plundering natural resources in the regions while giving little in return during the 32-year-rule of Soeharto.
Abdurrahman is scheduled to visit South Sulawesi's capital of Ujungpandang, the riot-torn Maluku capital of Ambon and the North Sulawesi capital of Manado during the final days of the campaigning period, which officially ends on June 4.
On Saturday Kendal was host to a huge rally of PDI Perjuangan. The event featured chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri's youngest brother Guruh Soekarnoputra.
In the Central Java town of Blora, two PDI Perjuangan supporters were killed in a traffic accident on Saturday.
Earlier in the day, one man died and 12 more were injured after an truck hit them on their way to a PDR campaign in Jenar near the Central Java town of Sragen.
More violence targeted the ruling Golkar Party in Cilacap, also in Central Java, on Saturday while its campaign ran without reported disturbance in Jakarta.
A group of 100 people clad in PDI Perjuangan T-shirts pelted stones at the podium of the campaign venue in Majenang district.
It was reportedly triggered after a Golkar campaigner told supporters not to fear "terrorists," hinting at supporters of a number of other parties which have harassed and assaulted participants in Golkar campaigns. No arrests were made.
Former vice president Try Sutrisno of the Justice and Unity Party arrived in Ambon on Saturday for a two-day visit.
In East Lombok, the National Mandate Party's presidential hopeful Amien Rais told his supporters that a victory for the party would lead to the return of thousands of hectares of land allegedly seized illegally by the New Order government from the people. (29/39/45/48/byg/har/jun/ind)