Business community plans mass strike on Tuesday

Business community plans mass strike on Tuesday

JAKARTA (JP): Members of the Indonesian business community
threatened to stage a one-day strike on Tuesday if President B.J.
Habibie and Minister of Defense and Security/Indonesian Military
Commander Gen. Wiranto continued their bids for the presidency
and vice presidency, respectively.

National Mandate Party (PAN) member Bara Hasibuan said on
Monday intellectuals and professionals across the city were
expected to join the strike.

"The one-day strike will not be limited to businesspeople at
the Jakarta Stock Exchange. It's open to all professionals," Bara
told reporters during a protest at the Jakarta Stock Exchange
(JSX) on Jl. Sudirman.

"We have spread news of the planned strike to professional
groups in the capital via E-mail and word of mouth. We had hoped
to arrange a nationwide strike, but it's a bit late for that
now."

Groups expected to participate in the one-day strike include
the Professional Society for Democracy, the Solidarity of
Professionals for Reform and the Jakarta Graduates Movement.

"The location of the strike might be in front of the central
bank in Central Jakarta, but we're not sure as yet. Let's see how
things go tomorrow (Tuesday)," Bara said.

The protesters on Monday, mostly employees from the JSX
building, called on the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) not
to elect Habibie and Wiranto in the presidential and vice
presidential elections slated for Wednesday and Thursday,
respectively.

Businesswoman Amalia Achmad of private television station
ANteve said the strike would convey "a very simple message from
the Indonesian business community".

"We just want the MPR to reject the candidacies of Habibie and
Wiranto as president and vice president, respectively. We can't
take them anymore."

A National University student and member of the City Forum
(Forkot) student group said on Sunday night that should the MPR
elect Habibie and Wiranto, there would be "war cries throughout
the capital".

"Forkot, Famred and other elements of the City Forum will
revolt if the candidacies (of Wiranto and Habibie) are accepted,"
the student, who asked for anonymity, said. Famred is the Student
Action Front for Reform and Democracy.

The white-collar protest on Monday was attended by several
political figures, including MPR deputy speakers Matori Abdul
Djalil and Kwik Kian Gie, PAN secretary-general Faisal Basri and
deputy chairman Abdillah Toha, noted lawyers Todung Mulya Lubis
and Bambang Widjojanto, economists Rizal Ramli and Pande Radja
Silalahi, human rights campaigner Albert Hasibuan and artist
Ratna Sarumpaet.

Kwik Kian Gie said the election of Habibie and Wiranto would
be "the beginning of the end" for Indonesia.

"Those setan dan iblis (devils) should not be elected. If it
happens, we are all doomed," Kwik told the protesters, who roared
with approval.

Matori said the appointment of Habibie and Wiranto would lead
to the country's disintegration.

"The question is, if those two are elected president and vice
president, are we ready, as a nation, to lose Irian Jaya? Aceh?
Are we ready for them to tear us apart," Matori asked.

The protesters renewed their threat to boycott the JSX if
Habibie was elected president.

"If Habibie is reelected, you should stop trading before the
index goes down," Faisal Basri said.

An unusual incident occurred during the demonstration, when
Faisal Basri, upon seeing Matori's arrival to join the
protesters, said: "Let (PAN legislator) A.M. Fatwa interrupt the
session again so everybody can see his stupidity."

Faisal was referring to an incident in the MPR on Friday, when
Fatwa criticized Matori during the Assembly session for attending
an earlier protest at the JSX.

The one-hour rally ended after Matori released balloons into
the air and unveiled a banner which read: "No to Habibie. The
Reform faction says Habibie's speech used faulty data."

Meanwhile, the Monitoring Body for the Implementation of Total
Reform (Bappertal) filed a complaint against Habibie at the
National Police Headquarters on Monday for delivering a faulty
accountability speech to the nation.

Bappertal spokesman Syafril Sofyan said most of the economic
figures Habibie used in the speech were incorrect.

"We have the correct data with us and we are submitting it to
the National Police," Syafril said after a meeting with National
Police deputy chief of detectives Brig. Gen. Saluchu.

During his speech to the Assembly, Habibie said inflation was
completely under control, the rupiah had strengthened and
economic growth could reach 1 percent or remain flat for the
current fiscal year, compared to a 13.2 percent contraction in
1998.

"All these indicators show that our economy has returned to
the path of recovery," he told the Assembly last Thursday.
(04/ylt)