Golkar asked to delay function
SEMARANG (JP): Residents in Surakarta, Central Java, have asked the Golkar Party to delay a scheduled meeting in the town for fear of unrest, an official here said.
The head of the Surakarta (also known as Solo) mayoralty elections committee, Zaenal Maarif, said in Semarang on Wednesday that clashes between Golkar supporters and supporters of rival parties could occur during a Golkar function in Surakarta scheduled for April 17.
"People fear clashes like those which occurred in Purbalingga and Brebes in which Golkar supporters were attacked by supporters clad in the attributes of PDI Perjuangan (the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle)," Zaenal told The Jakarta Post.
"We ask that Golkar postpone their meeting," he said, adding many residents had called his office conveying their fears.
The secretary of Surakarta's Golkar chapter, Djoko Trisno Widodo, said so far there was no change in plans to hold the meeting. "Hopefully everything will go smoothly and safely."
Meanwhile, on Tuesday night 19 people were injured in clashes between supporters of the United Development Party (PPP) and the National Mandate Party (PAN) in Klaten, Central Java.
The chairman of PPP's provincial chapter, M. Hendro Suyitno, told the Post the victims were from both parties and all of the injured were being treated in Klaten Hospital and Muhammadiyah Hospital in Delanggu following the violence in the villages of Ceper, Karangwuni and Jumiring.
Hendro said groups of supporters from both parties met in the three villages on their way home from party meetings. They traded insults before beginning to throw stones at one another.
Such violence should not have occurred, particularly because both parties are Islamic-based, Hendro said, adding that he had ordered the Klaten branch of PPP to make peace with PAN.
A clash occurred last week in Purbalingga, Central Java, between supporters of Golkar and a group of people clad in the attributes of PDI Perjuangan. The alleged PDI Perjuangan supporters reportedly harassed the Golkar supporters, including forcing a female party supporter to remove her Golkar shirt.
However, a team of lawyers from PDI Perjuangan insisted the three suspects arrested in the clash were not party members. The team went to the General Elections Commission office on Wednesday to demand an investigation into the case.
"The three arrested are not our members, so why are we being blamed," Didi Supriyanto, spokesman for the team, said. However, he promised sanctions against party members found guilty of initiating violence.
"Our own investigation found the report about a female Golkar supporter being forced to strip was not true," Didi said.
Didi added Golkar violated the elections law by holding rallies and mass gathering on Good Friday, a national holiday.
"We are suing for this," Didi said.
The elections commission soon will send a fact-finding team to investigate the clash in Purbalingga, according to commission member Afan Gaffar. He did not give an exact date for the team's departure.
According to Afan, included on the fact-finding team are Saut Aritonang from the Indonesian Workers Party (PPI), Soegito from the Indonesian Nation National Party (Partai National Bangsa Indonesia) and Bambang Suroso from PNI-Front Marhaenis. (har/anr/edt)