Armed volunteers, violent demos mar session opening

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)