Coffin fails to impress cleric

JAKARTA: Tuty Alawwiyah, leader of a Golkar-affiliated Moslem organization, is unimpressed by people using coffins to dramatize concern for the "death of democracy".

The latest person to carry a mock coffin in a street protest is playwright Ratna Sarumpaet, whose play on the murder of labor heroine Marsinah has been banned.

Tuty, who chairs the Coordinating Body for Taklim Committee, said using mock coffins in demonstrations was "unethical" and "not educational".

"Coffins are sacred and people cannot just use them as play things," she was quoted by Antara as saying.

Ratna carried a mock coffin on the roof of a Kijang van around South Jakarta for about six hours last Friday before police arrested her near her home in Tebet, East Jakarta.

She said she admired the Moslem-based United Development Party, and wanted to remind people to keep fighting for democracy before it died. (pan)