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)