Golkar says East Timor is not up for debate

Golkar says East Timor is not up for debate

JAKARTA (JP): Golkar chairman Harmoko fired up a campaign
rally in the East Timor town of Baucau by blasting people who
tried to bring the province's integration to the fore during
local election debates.

Any discourse on the issue of integration is irrelevant as the
people of the former Portuguese colony opted to integrate into
Indonesia 21 years ago, Harmoko told hundreds of supporters
packing the Baucau sports hall.

"Golkar asserts firmly that this issue is finished," Harmoko
told a crowd made up mostly of youths. "Nobody can persuade
others to reopen the case, or else they will have to contend with
Golkar and all Indonesian people."

East Timor became the country's 27th and youngest province in
1976. The May 29 general election will be the fourth for the East
Timorese.

Deputy chairman Pinantun Hutasoit accompanied Harmoko as he
distributed gifts to supporters. Yesterday he gave his short-
sleeved jacket in the party color of yellow to a female student,
Victoria, unaware that his comb and several Rp 20,000 (US$8.3)
notes were still in the pockets.

Harmoko also said during the rally that the desire for
independence was both human instinct and a religious calling.

"That's why East Timor's integration should be deemed a
blessing of God," said Harmoko, who is also the information
minister.

Warm welcome

In another Golkar rally in Medan, deputy chairwoman Siti
Hardiyanti Rukmana received a warm welcome from thousands of the
party supporters who braved a downpour to turn the Merdeka field
into a sea of yellow.

Tutut, as Hardiyanti is better known, said Golkar was
committed to leading the Indonesian people to "a wealthy, just
and corruption-free nation."

The Moslem-based United Development Party (PPP) stirred up an
estimated 5,000 supporters in Martapura, South Kalimantan by
denouncing shabby law enforcement and the absence of equality
before the law.

"The laws should apply for everybody, including high ranking
government officials," campaign speaker Zain Badjeber said.

He lashed out at government officials for the "arrogance and
belittling of the law" which had caused glaring abuse of judicial
procedures. He cited the unsolved murder of journalist Udin in
Yogyakarta last year and the bizarre escape of convicted tycoon
Edy Tansil from a Jakarta prison. Tansil is still at large.

"If the laws have supremacy over power, everybody will be
willing to abide by the law and respect legal institutions,"
Badjeber said.

The party's color of green is expected to dominate the capital
today, with chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum scheduled to speak at
the Jakarta Fairground in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta.

Rusjdi Hamka, the chief of the party's Jakarta chapter, said
PPP's election campaigning today would be blessed with luck
because it falls on a holiday. The last PPP campaign in Java,
Maluku and Irian Jaya was on Thursday, when Indonesians observed
both the Ascension Day of Jesus Christ and the Islamic New Year
of 1418 Hijra.

In Bandung, chairman of the government-sanctioned faction of
Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) Soerjadi predicted an increase
in the party's votes in the May 29 election despite "certain
people's efforts to undermine us".

"The number of frustrated supporters in PDI who have shifted
their allegiance is small compared to that of first-time voters
who will vote for the party," Soerjadi said.

A throng of PDI supporters jammed the streets around the venue
of the rally in Cimahi, some seven kilometers east of the West
Java capital of Bandung.

A score of loyalists of the party's deposed leader Megawati
Soekarnoputri joined the rally. Instead of becoming angry at the
group's chants in support if Megawati, Soerjadi asked them to
stand near him until the end of the rally.

The PDI also held indoor and open rallies in Jakarta's five
mayoralties. Four journalists and two retired colleagues were the
party speakers at a rally at the Pulogadung stadium, East
Jakarta.

Meanwhile, in Dili, East Timor, PDI branch chief Gabriel da
Costa announced that the party would suspend all but two election
rallies in the predominantly Catholic province today in
observance of Sunday holy masses.

Da Costa told Antara news agency that rallies would go on in
Metinato, 12 kilometers east of here, and in Atauro Isle, 72 sea
miles north of the province, in the afternoon. (21/33/imn/amd)