Campaigning off to noisy start

JAKARTA (JP): The capital turned into a sea of colorful flags, balloons and banners on Wednesday as the 16-day campaign period began, but red-clad supporters of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) dominated the multiparty "peace parade" here by sheer weight of numbers.

People young and old, even mothers with babies on their arms, clambered onto the backs of decorated trucks. Traffic was far lighter than on normal days, with many people deciding to stay at home in case the campaigning turned violent.

Seen off by Governor Sutiyoso at the National Monument (Monas) Square, the parade ended at the local offices of mayoralty election committees in West, North, South, East and Central Jakarta.

The capital was awash with red as crimson-clad members and supporters of PDI Perjuangan filled the streets on trucks, motorcycles and other vehicles.

Onlookers lining the capital's main thoroughfare cheered and clapped as parading PDI Perjuangan supporters raised their fists and shouted "Long live Mega!" for party chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri.

The joint parade of all 48 contesting political parties, however, was marred by clashes and vandalism. Trouble started a few minutes after Sutiyoso kicked off the parade, which was attended by an estimated 100,000 party supporters and hundreds of floats and vehicles.

Onlookers pushed forward to attack the Golkar Party's four floats shortly after they passed the stage where the governor stood.

The crowd then started booing and jeering at a number of artists on the floats, including rock singer Renny Jayusman, pop singer Lilis Suryani and comedians Komar and Ginanjar.

People pelted the floats with plastic bottles and other objects, forcing the artists to flee to safety. Renny Jayusman was seen taking off her yellow Golkar blazer.

Security guards from parties such as PDI Perjuangan and the National Mandate Party (PAN) attempted to calm people who proceeded to tear away decorations from the floats. Security personnel moved in to save the cars from being damaged.

Sutiyoso expressed regret at the vandalism. "I have repeatedly urged the public to help make the campaign a success, I hope that every party will prevent their supporters from doing any harm," he said.

Parade organizer Muchamad Taufik said more than 240 vehicles were included in the event. Each of the 48 parties were allowed to enter only five floats in the parade.

Protest

The deputy chairman of Golkar's Jakarta chapter, Ade Surpriatna, protested the harassment and blamed the Jakarta provincial elections committee (PPD I) for its inability to maintain security in the parade.

"We have submitted an official protest to PPD I. We strongly demand that the authority immediately reveal the persons behind the occurrence," Ade said in a media conference at his office in Central Jakarta.

Ade said Golkar would continue with its campaigning despite the incident.

The head of the Operation and Control Department of Jakarta Police, Col. Soenarko, said no one was arrested over the incident.

In a related development, he said at least 20 police officers were injured when a truck carrying them overturned on Jl. Puri Kembangan in West Jakarta. The officers were to be deployed to secure the campaign parade at Monas square.

Seven of the officers were severely injured, and are now being treated at Kramatjati Police Hospital and Graha Medika Hospital.

Asked to comment about the harassment suffered by Golkar, Indria Samego, a political expert from the University of Indonesia, said violence could not be stopped as long as the political elite thought that power existed only when it was showed in a concrete form.

"This paradigm should be changed if we want to reduce such violence," he told reporters after speaking at a seminar on political violence in Central Jakarta on Wednesday.

Indria criticized those who urged Golkar to withdraw from campaigning in order to avoid unrest.

"Golkar has the right to campaign even in such conditions," he insisted. "What is important now is that security officers should guarantee the safety of every political party when they are campaigning."

Jacob Tobing, chairman of the National Elections Committee (PPI) said the committee will meet with the Election Supervisory Committee (Panwaslu) and the National Police to discuss further arrangements for handling party followers and regulation violations in following days of campaigning.

"We are very concerned about reports that people burned Golkar's flag and its campaign attributes. We are calling on the public to show restraint," he said.

"Shortly after the completion of provincial legislative candidate lists, PPI, Panwaslu and the National Police will meet and find solutions to such violence," Jacob said.

He called on the election supervisory body to be more active as it held the authority to impose sanctions against parties that broke campaign rules. (ind/edt/jun)