Anti-Gus Dur protesters start rallying on streets
Anti-Gus Dur protesters start rallying on streets
JAKARTA (JP): Some 800 people from seven Islamic organizations
staged a rally in front of the National Police Headquarters on
Monday, urging the police to immediately solve various high-
profile crimes, particularly those allegedly related to President
Abdurrahman Wahid.
The protesters from, among other groups, the Islamic Defenders
Front (FPI), the Hizbullah Front, and the Indonesian Muslim
Workers Brotherhood (PPMI), arrived at the site in 24 minibuses
and several trucks.
PPMI chairman Eggy Sudjana was among the protesters who took
part in the rally concentrated at the side of busy thoroughfare,
Jl. Wolter Monginsidi, in South Jakarta.
The gathering was so large that it blocked the street, forcing
police officers to redirect the heavy traffic.
The rally was peaceful with some of the protesters unfurling
banners bearing demands for the police to probe cases related to
Abdurrahman, also known as Gus Dur.
"Solve the Bulog scandal. Solve Ariyanti case," one of the
banners read, referring to the Rp 35 billion State Logistics
Agency (Bulog) scandal and the alleged extra-marital affair of
the President with housewife Ariyanti Sitepu.
The protesters also demanded former National Police chief Gen.
Rusdihardjo be tried for the bloody takeover of the Indonesian
Democratic Party (PDI) headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro on July 27,
1996.
Rusdihardjo was Assistant to National Police chief for
Operational Affairs at the time.
The protesters also condemned Gus Dur's decision last week to
ask prosecutors to delay legal proceedings against three
prominent businessmen and largest state debtors.
A few minutes after the rally began, seven representatives of
the protesters were invited to meet National Police chief Gen.
Surojo Bimantoro in his office to air their demands.
The protesters dispersed after the one-hour meeting with
Bimantoro.
Several minutes later, a group of some 300 FPI members,
believed to be the same people who had just demonstrated at
Bimantoro's office, arrived at the Governor's Office complex on
Jl. Medan Merdeka Selatan in Central Jakarta.
According to sources at the Governor's Office complex, the FPI
members, without warning or apparent reason, began pelting the
building with stones launched by slingshots.
One security officer suffered a minor injury after being
struck by a stone.
In the 15-minute action, protesters broke down the front gate
and damaged the ornamentation.
They the scene shortly after the arrival of several police
officers.
The police allowed the demonstrators to leave without
attempting to detain any of them.
Separately, thousands of protesters -- with different causes
-- flooded the House of Representatives compound.
The first rally, held by people who claimed to be residents of
Cijantung, East Jakarta, accused top army officers of
manipulating documents related to their land which they had
purchased several years ago.
Currently, the land is used for the Army Special Forces
Headquarter and several units of the army. The protesters
threatened to occupy the Jagorawi highway near the site if the
House failed to help them get their land back.
Another rally was staged by people from Bangka and Belitung
islands in Sumatra, demanding a quick process for the islands to
become a separate province as the bill establishing the province
has been submitted to the House.
The last rally of the day came from youths of the
Democratization Watch and Law Awareness Society Movement, asking
for the government to take serious action against practices of
corruption, collusion and nepotism in the country.(jaw/dja)