Armed volunteers, violent demos mar session opening

JAKARTA (JP): The opening of the Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) on Tuesday was marred by violent demonstrations in several spots in Jakarta, some of which escalated into clashes between students opposing the session and pro-session armed civilians.

In the morning, at least 3,000 students coordinated by the Forum Kota group staged a rally about 200 meters from the House of Representatives (DPR)/MPR building. The students, who arrived at the scene in buses, were stopped on Jl. Gatot Subroto by at least 400 security officers, including vigilantes or volunteer security units.

Unable to break through the cordon, the students alighted from their vehicles and held a rally in the middle of the road with speakers addressing their audience from the roof of one of the buses.

Shortly afterward, the students and the security volunteers traded insults and hurled stones at each other.

Both sides were eventually dispersed.

Another, peaceful, protest occurred at the same place in the afternoon. This time the security units had been replaced with hundreds of heavily armed soldiers and riot police. It lasted several hours and no clashes were reported.

In the Salemba area in Central Jakarta, crowds of students gathered at several spots, including the Foundation of the Indonesian Legal Aid Institute office on Jl. Diponegoro and the campus of the University of Indonesia. They marched toward the Proclamation Monument on Jl. Proklamasi where they wanted to gather and establish a "parliament".

However, about 2,000 civilians transported in 14 trucks and armed with spears and machetes, beat the students to the monument. Wearing Islamic attributes, the youths claimed they were there to say a special prayer for Hasan Basri, the chairman of the Indonesian Council of Ulemas who died on Sunday.

The students -- whose numbers swelled to about 5,000 -- surrounded the place in their effort to get the armed security units out, and soon both groups were trading insults and stones.

The students -- chanting condemnations of Soeharto and the Armed Forces -- tried to negotiate with the armed civilians and the security forces, whose number was comparably small.

Clashes erupted when hundreds of local residents, mostly teenagers, charged toward the park and started throwing stones.

Reinforced by more than a dozen truckloads of colleagues from the Istiqlal Grand Mosque where the civilian guards were concentrated, the volunteers responded by throwing stones back at the swelling crowd.

The stone-throwing lasted for about half an hour until more security forces arrived.

By nightfall, 500 security personnel had been deployed to the site. About 500 more troops were posted around the nearby Megaria shopping center.

At 7 p.m., following more than two hours of negotiations between students, represented by human rights campaigner Munir, and the security, resulted in the evacuation of the armed civilians. They were reportedly sent back to the Istiqlal Mosque, and their weapons, including stones, wooden clubs and bamboo poles, were confiscated.

The students then went into the monument complex where they planned to stay overnight. Central Jakarta police chief Lt. Col. Iman Haryatna said he had given them permission to stay until 10 a.m. on Wednesday.

A clash between local residents and the armed security units -- many of whom had been riding on buses and trucks around the city on the pretext of "patrolling" -- also took place in Pasar Minggu in South Jakarta, according to Antara.

On Tuesday evening, Jakarta Police Chief Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman was quoted by Antara as saying that he had ordered his men to strip the vigilantes of all their weapons, "because the law says it's forbidden for them to bring objects that could endanger other people".

He said the civilians had volunteered to safeguard the session, but had gone overboard by arming themselves.

Back at the Assembly building, after the opening led by House/Assembly Speaker Harmoko, the legislators held separate meetings within their factions.

The regional representatives and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) factions delivered their views on the 12 draft decrees on Tuesday evening.

Golkar, the United Development Party (PPP) and the Armed Forces (ABRI) factions are scheduled to convey their respective views on Wednesday.

The regional representatives faction leader, a former Jakarta governor Surjadi Soedirdja, said the upcoming general election, which is scheduled for May next year, was among the most strategic issues that should be thoroughly discussed during the Special Session.

"There must be a fair and honest election to form a really representative government," Surjadi said after attending the faction's closed meeting at the Assembly.

At its faction meeting, the United Development Party (PPP) decided to continue to push for five issues that it had failed to have included among the draft decrees.

These issues include the faction's fight against ABRI's representation in the House of Representatives.

"In the representative bodies, members should be elected," the faction's chairman in the Assembly, Faisal Baasir, said.

The faction promised also to continue its call for an investigation into the wealth of former president Soeharto, as well as former and incumbent high-ranking government officials and their families. (edt/byg/das/swe)