Calls for boycotts of U.S. products intensify

The Jakarta Post Jakarta

The continuing war in Iraq has increased demands for a boycott of United States' products nationwide in protest of the superpower's leading role in the military invasion of the Middle East state.

Some 50 students with the Solidarity Forum of Jayabaya University staged a rally outside the American Express Bank on Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said in South Jakarta on Wednesday, demanding that Indonesians boycott American interests and products.

The rally turned ugly when the students began pelting the building's windows with paint missiles and eggs, colorfully soiling the windows and front lobby of the building.

Fathia Syarif, the American Express Bank public affairs and communications manager, refused to comment on the incident.

Calls to boycott everything to with the U.S. and its Iraq coalition allies also took place in several other cities like Yogyakarta, Riau and Cilacap.

In Yogyakarta, some 500 activists from the People's Anti- Imperialism Front (FRAI) marched about four kilometers from Gadjah Mada University to the U.S. franchise restaurant McDonald's in Malioboro Mall on Jl. Malioboro to picket the restaurant.

The protesters also picketed two outlets of another U.S.-based franchise, Kentucky Fried Chicken on their way to Jl. Malioboro.

"We do this not because we want to disturb our brothers and sisters who are making a living here. We are against imperialism," yelled the protesters, while the others pasted signs to indicate that they had unofficially banned people from the restaurant.

The call for a boycott of American interests also came from 70 members of the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) who rallied in front of the compound of American-linked oil company PT Caltex Pacific Indonesia in the Riau town of Bengkalis, 100 kilometers north of the provincial capital Pekanbaru.

The activists were met by a company executive Suwito Anggoro, who said the company understood the protesters' demands. Suwito, however, asserted that the private company was not involved in politics and had no link to the U.S. government.

"Our focus is to increase the revenues of the governments of Indonesia, Riau and regency where we operate our business," Suwito told the demonstrators.

In Cilacap, Central Java, nearly 3,000 protesters took to the streets to urge the government to sever diplomatic ties with the U.S. in addition to their call for a boycott of U.S. products.

Also participating in the rally were Regent Probo Yulastoro and speaker of the regency's legislature Frans Lukman.

The anti-U.S. rallies turned rowdy in Jakarta and Surabaya.

Around 300 students from Syarief Hidayatulah State Islamic University pelted the British Embassy with water balloons and threw rotten tomatoes into the U.S. Embassy compound. They also burned an effigy of U.S. President George W. Bush.

In Surabaya, around 200 students from the Indonesian Muslim Students Action Front (KAMMI) also hurled rotten tomatoes at the U.S. Consulate. They forced their way into the consulate's compound, but a police cordon was finally able to halt their surge.

In response to the antiwar rallies targeting American restaurants, Yanti Sukamdani, the chairperson of the Indonesian Hotel and Restaurant Industry (PHRI), expressed her disappointment, saying that the protests would adversely affect the restaurant industry.

"If the protests go too far and lead to the closure of the restaurants, Indonesia will pay the price dearly," Yanti told reporters, on the sidelines of a national working meeting on tourism here.

"Don't forget that the employees in those restaurants are Indonesians. Should we sacrifice them?"

She said closures of the restaurants would also mean serious consequences for other businesses and their employees.

"Many people depend on the restaurant industry, such as vegetable, meat and beverage suppliers," she said.