Campaign closes in violence

JAKARTA (JP): The curtain to the violence-ridden election campaign came down yesterday with riots in several towns.

Greater Jakarta, still licking its wounds from a week of unrest, was hit by more clashes as thousands of campaigning United Development Party (PPP) supporters braved tight security on the streets.

The riots began after the PPP Jakarta branch launched glad- handing operations across the city in the vain hope that its supporters would not stampede like after earlier rallies. But rioting broke out when security officials stopped the supporters forming convoys.

The party concluded its campaign in Java, Maluku and Irian Jaya. In Pasuruan in East Java, Kendal in Central Java, Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan and Ujungpandang in South Sulawesi clashes broke out.

Calm is expected to return to the country during the "cooling off" period which starts tomorrow with all political activities by the three parties banned until election day on May 29.

While the financial and human cost of 26 days of campaigning were still being calculated, at least four people were seriously injured, including two police officers, in Pasuruan and Kendal. Thirty-five others suffered minor injuries.

A young PPP supporter was shot in the foot in Ciputat, south of Jakarta. And eight people died yesterday in campaign-related traffic accidents in Jakarta's neighboring towns of Bekasi and Bogor.

Minor clashes broke out in Jakarta's outer subdistrict of Ciledug, Menteng Dalam and Grogol Utara in South Jakarta and the Roxy business district near the city center.

Police closed roads to traffic around the hot spots, forcing thousands of workers and students to walk kilometers to get home.

Riot police fired tear gas and warning shots to disperse angry mobs who stoned police stations, looted dozens of shops, government offices and banks in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, Ciputat, Tangerang, Kebayoran Lama in South Jakarta and Banjarmasin in South Kalimantan.

Tens of thousands of PPP supporters ransacked a Protestant church in Kebayoran Lama, two churches in Pasuruan and a cathedral in Banjarmasin. The crowds there burned scores of police cars and motorbikes

Police arrested at least seven people for robbery in Ciputat and four others for inciting riot in Kendal.

Tanks and armored personnel carriers were deployed to help security authorities restore order.

Tension remained until late last night as crowds loitered on streets affected by the riots.

Fear began to grip the capital yesterday morning, with many shops and offices not opening or shutting early. Police and soldiers stood guard across the city.

The riots broke out sporadically in the afternoon, shortly after Moslems finished their Friday prayer.

Thousands of PPP supporters started pelting stones at security officials when they failed to force their way through police blockades. They then smashed windows in shops and buildings, damaged roadside flowerpots and burned stacks of tires and Golkar flags.

The police tried to disperse the crowds by beating the supporters or curious bystanders.

Witnesses in Ciputat said the clash there escalated when police stopped PPP supporters, coming from Kedaung subdistrict near Ciputat market, joining a parade of fellow supporters in Pondok Pinang.

Golkar supporters had tried to help security officials keep the PPP mob at bay which only caused the fighting to spread, witnesses said.

Golkar civilian guard Andri Indra said that four truck loads of Golkar supporters from Berlan, East Jakarta, had arrived in Ciputat.

City military commander Maj. Gen. Sutiyoso said the riots had been small and that his forces were in full control of the situation.

Witnesses said the riots in Banjarmasin had erupted because Golkar campaigning started before Moslems had finished their Friday prayer.

Golkar ended its campaign in Kalimantan and Sulawesi.

In Ujungpandang, riots marred a Golkar rally in the Karebosi field attended by party chairman Harmoko. The incident started when PPP supporters stoned Golkar rivals who had taken to the streets in convoys.

In Jakarta, Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Soesilo Soedarman called on people to use the five-day "cooling off" period to think over their choices before they go to the polling booths.

"We hope people will be in clear mind when they punch the contestants of their choice then," he told reporters after a Friday prayer yesterday afternoon. (team)