Clashes mar Habibie's accountability speech

JAKARTA (JP): Militant student protesters demanding that President B.J. Habibie drop his bid for a second term clashed with riot troops outside the People's Consultative Assembly complex at dusk on Thursday.

At least three protesters were beaten violently by the police. Five others were detained during the 30-minute street battle, which erupted about three hours before Habibie delivered his accountability speech for his 16 months in office since taking over from president Soeharto, who stepped down in May 1998.

Two reporters, Fahrizi of Derap Reformasi magazine and Agus Widjananto of Pro2 FM radio, suffered serious head injuries caused by stray rocks.

Photographer Daniel Supriyono from Warta Kota daily had his left arm and left ear seriously injured and bruised legs after being hit by an official Tourist Police jeep at the scene.

Groups of students and activists started to take over the street under the Senayan flyover, which is within walking distance from the Assembly complex, in the afternoon. Their number reached the thousands by about 5:30 p.m.

At least 2,000 students converged on the Assembly area, arriving on foot and in buses, but were blocked under the flyover, which was tightly guarded by a cordon of hundreds of riot troops.

The students said they had just one aim: to enter the Assembly compound. However, none of them could say what they would do once they achieved their objective.

Clashes erupted later when some protesters started to throw rocks and sticks at the troops.

When the security personnel fired blank bullets and gas canisters in return. The protesters counterattacked with Molotov cocktails.

The fight stopped only when the sound of Adzan (dusk call to pray) was heard from a nearby mosque. The students then held a mass prayer at the site.

During the clash, security forces also used water cannons on the demonstrators, who triggered the melee by pelting the riot squads with rocks.

At least five protesters were dragged away by military police officers.

Some students were seen carrying sharpened bamboo stakes and red-and-white Indonesian flags, and a number of them chanted "God is Great".

About two kilometers from the scene, protesters, some 500 of whom had earlier picketed Habibie's residence in Kuningan, held aloft dozens of banners denouncing Habibie and Soeharto, as well as one which read "Stop militarism, bring Soeharto and his cronies to court".

The students also directed their ire at military chief Gen. Wiranto, who was picked by Habibie a day earlier to be his running mate in the presidential election.

"Reject Habibie and Wiranto", read one poster carried by students. Another poster said "Crush remnants of (Soeharto's) New Order".

Both Habibie and Wiranto were senior members in the Soeharto administration.

The students also demanded the military leave the country's political scene altogether and sought the reopening of a corruption probe into Soeharto.

The government on Monday halted the investigation into the former president, saying there was insufficient evidence.

A few kilometers away from the clash, some 1,000 supporters of opposition leader Megawati Soekarnoputri rallied at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle to demonstrate their support for the chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan).

They then attempted to march to the Assembly but were halted by student protesters.

Earlier in the afternoon, Sahid University students caught and beat up a man wearing a gold wristwatch and a gold ring on their campus on Jl. Prof. Dr. Soepomo in South Jakarta. They suspected the man was an intelligence officer monitoring their activities.

The man was later identified as First Lt. Sukijo, a senior intelligence officer from the South Jakarta Police.

"The students took Sukijo inside the university and onto the third floor of the university, where the university security guards questioned him," Akhmad, one of the students, said.

Before heading to the Assembly, some student groups stopped to express anger over the East Timor crisis at the Australian Embassy on Jl. Rasuna Said in Kuningan, South Jakarta.

Some of the students pelted stones and hurled about 20 Molotov cocktails at the premises. Some of the Molotov cocktails smashed on trees and burst into flame.

Postpone

The occupation of the 12-lane street and tollway in front of the Assembly by the students forced President Habibie to postpone his speech, which was initially scheduled for 7 p.m.

After a careful arrangement, the President left his Kuningan residence at 8:40 p.m. and passed by car along Jl. Kapt. Tendean, Jl. Pattimura and Jl. Wolter Mongunsidi, Jl. Pattimura, Jl. Asia Afrika, Jl. Gelora and smoothly entered the Assembly from the rear gate at 9:55 p.m.

Clashes between protesters and troops went on late into the night on Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Casablanca, to where protesters had been pushed back by security personnel.

Students continued to throw Molotov cocktails at the troops, who fired more gas canisters at them.

Similar protests against Habibie took place in several cities across the country, such as in Bandung, Ujungpandang, Semarang and Bogor.

In Bandung, supporters of PDI Perjuangan and students voiced their rejection of Habibie and asserted that some 2.5 million of their supporters would swarm to Jakarta several days before the Oct. 20 presidential election.

People are expected to arrive from Cirebon, Indramayu, Tasikmalaya, Majalengka, Karawang, Bandung and greater Jakarta areas such as Bekasi and Bogor.

In Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, about 1,000 students marched toward the council building, protesting the practice of deploying forces around the House of Representatives building in Jakarta.

"We do not want any bloodshed. We do not want conflict. We demand that PDI Perjuangan and Golkar supporters do not throng the building. It's a cheap political way to create pressure," Iswari Al Farisy, student coordinator, said.

In Semarang, about 100 students from Walisongo Islamic Institute converged in front of the council and urged MPR members to reject Habibie's accountability speech.

In Bogor, West Java, a group of PDI Perjuangan supporters and students occupied the state-owned RRI radio station and managed to air their demands for 10 minutes from 1 p.m., calling on local residents to reject Habibie's accountability speech. (bsr/04/ylt/asa/24/43/har/edt)