Bung Karno admirers

Bung Karno admirers

Over 30,000 admirers of Indonesia's founding president,
Sukarno, commemorated the anniversary of his death in his
hometown of Blitar in West Java on Sunday.

A security threat marred the event, when police found two
cocktail bombs in an auditorium on the third floor of the
Herlingga Jaya Hotel, where one of Sukarno's daughters,
Rachmawati Soekarnoputri, would stay.

The noisy crowd came from all over the province and jammed the
streets of this tiny town, where Sukarno was born in 1901 and
buried 29 years ago.

Locals said the crowds were far larger than the ones in
previous years because people were not only commemorating
Sukarno, but also celebrating his eldest daughter Megawati
Soekarnoputri's likely victory in the elections.

Megawati's secular-nationalist Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) holds a strong lead in the June 7
general election.

People waved PDI Perjuangan's flag and shouted "Long Live
Mega", and "Mega for Presidency".

While Megawati and Abdurrahman Wahid, the leader of Nahdlatul
Ulama Muslim organization and founder the National Awakening
Party (PKB), canceled their trip, other notable guests including
former vice president Try Sutrisno and former defense minister
Edi Sudrajat were present.

Rachmawati was scheduled to hold a media conference at
midnight on, among other things, the Sukarno family's plan to
rebury the founding president's body in Bogor, West Java.

Separately, two revelers were killed and nine others injured
in a train accident. The victims were identified as Joko Santoso
and Sumali, both from Malang, 30 kilometers north of Blitar.

The victims were discharged off a train wagon which hit a
electricity pole in Talun subdistrict, about 15 kilometers away
from Blitar. (nur/byg)