Fighting breaks out across Jakarta

Fighting breaks out across Jakarta

JAKARTA (JP): Violence hit vast parts of the capital and
Yogyakarta yesterday as thousands of campaigning Golkar
supporters fought their United Development Party (PPP) rivals and
security personnel.

Golkar supporters started their street rallies early, despite
an agreement by the three parties' Jakarta branches not to hold
any public gatherings or rallies until after campaigning
officially ends Friday.

Estimates of injuries, fatalities and damage are yet to be
made, with the fighting in Jl. Warung Buncit Raya in South
Jakarta, Jl. Matraman in East Jakarta, other parts of the city
and Yogyakarta continuing well into the night.

In at least five parts of East, Central and South Jakarta,
clashes erupted between Golkar supporters and residents who were
apparently PPP supporters. Some fighting began because residents
refused to give Golkar supporters the party's finger sign.

Hundreds of riot police and troops kept watch or fired tear
gas canisters and warning shots to quell the unrest.

Thousands of people emerged from alleys and thronged the roads
connecting the subdistricts of Senen, Salemba, Matraman, Tambak,
Otista, Cawang and Dewi Sartika in Central and East Jakarta from
3 until 5 p.m. -- some came out of curiosity, but most were PPP
supporters who jeered and taunted the convoys of Golkar
supporters.

Streets fighting occurred in at least three places between
2:30 and 4 p.m. from Kramat Pulo in Central Jakarta to Matraman,
East Jakarta. Hundreds of PPP supporters threw stones at Golkar
supporters from the Matraman-Salemba flyover at about 3 p.m.

City police chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata was among the security
officers working to disperse the fighting at the Matraman
flyover.

He told The Jakarta Post that street brawls between rival
supporters in the city were still tolerable compared with those
in other regions. No arrests have been reported.

Riot police stopped PPP supporters joining their friends who
were fighting on Jl. Tambak, Central Jakarta.

Shortly after police closed off Salemba to Matraman to traffic
at about 3 p.m., a clash erupted between PPP and Golkar
supporters near Gramedia bookstore in Matraman.

Hundreds of people were seen brawling with yellow-clad Golkar
supporters in front of the bookstore, prompting riot police to
fire warning shots.

The PPP supporters roamed in groups along Jl. Matraman Raya,
despite a police order to disperse. The street was reopened for
traffic at about 5 p.m.

Violence in the hot spots of Matraman, Kramat Jati and Cawang,
East Jakarta, and in Menteng, Central Jakarta, had subsided by 6
p.m. yesterday.

But many people remained milling about on the streets of
Pramuka, Matraman, Jatinegara and Otto Iskandar Dinata. Hundreds
of police and security officers patrolled these streets in trucks
and mini-vans, while hundreds of others guarded major
intersections.

Sign

The worst violence began in Cawang, East Jakarta, at about 1
p.m. when a convoy of Golkar supporters passed under the Cawang
flyover.

Residents said that Golkar supporters got angry with locals
who had refused to give the Golkar finger victory sign. The
locals had, instead, waved their index finger, the PPP finger
sign.

Golkar supporters jumped off their vehicles and chased
residents who escaped into neighborhood alleys. Golkar supporters
and residents then started throwing stones at each other.

Four cars, several houses and street flower pots, adorned with
banyan tree pictures (Golkar's symbol), were damaged in the
melee. The sentry post and gate of the Suara Pembaruan daily's
office suffered minor damage.

Tension remained high until late last night around Jl.
Kebayoran Lama and Cipulir in West Jakarta and around Jl. Warung
Buncit Raya in South Jakarta. Thousands of people took to the
streets. There were reports of fighting and warning shots, but
security personnel claimed the situation was under control.

On Saturday, police fired tear gas canisters, rubber bullets
and warning shots to disperse thousands of PPP supporters in
Jatinegara. They were protesting about being barred from a street
which had been open to Golkar convoys.

Vandalism

In Yogyakarta, fighting erupted yesterday when about 30
members of Golkar's Cakra security force attacked and vandalized
the Indonesian Islamic University's student regiment office.

One Cakra member said they smashed the campus' fence and tore
down the office because the force had been attacked by students.

Hundreds of students then demonstrated in front of the campus
and burned Golkar flags. They refused to disperse despite the
order from scores of riot police and soldiers. At about 11 p.m.,
the security personnel forcibly dispersed the students, dragging
some of them away from the street.

Nearby residents were told not to leave their houses, while
the road in front of the campus was blocked by police.

In Bantul, a small town south of Yogyakarta, a mosque and a
mushola (small mosque) were attacked by Golkar supporters on
their way home from a rally.

Back in Jakarta, Fikri Zulfikar, the son of Golkar campaign
speaker and singer Rhoma Irama, said that over 300 people had
besieged and pelted Rhoma's home. They also burned a golkar flag
and cut off a large balloon emblazoned with Golkar's logo moored
in front of the home of the singer who had jumped ship from the
PPP to Golkar.

Rhoma Irama had been campaigning in Bogor when the incident
happened, Fikri said. (03/05/cst/38/01/aan/imn/jsk/swe)

Editorial -- Page 4