Golkar supporters attack PPP offices
YOGYAKARTA (JP): Two groups participating in a Golkar rally vandalized two United development Party (PPP) offices and injured one person here yesterday, a local party official said.
The incidents marred Golkar's otherwise orderly campaign elsewhere in Java, Maluku and Irian Jaya, where its politicians reiterated promises to eradicate poverty and create more jobs.
The first incident occurred in Kota Gede, a PPP stronghold, where about 50 people in Golkar attire jumped out of trucks and vandalized a PPP office about 5 p.m.
Yogyakarta's PPP mayoralty branch office chief, Sukri Fadholi, said police saw the attack but did not intervene until the intruders left.
The stone-throwing mob shattered window panes, doors and wreaked furniture. They also removed nine PPP flags.
Sukri said the vandals assaulted a PPP security taskforce member, Sujari, who refused to leave when the office was stormed.
"Strangely, the police picked up Sujari, not the attackers, for questioning. This is unfair," he said.
Another group wearing Golkar attire pelted the Yogyakarta provincial PPP headquarters on Jl. Tentara Rakyat Mataram with stones.
Security officers managed to disperse the rampaging crowd which had caused minor damage.
The chairman of PPP's Yogyakarta chapter, Alfian Darmawan, said he could not accept the incident but refused to say what he would do.
"If the authorities cannot guarantee security, we'd better stop campaigning," he said.
Golkar's campaigns recorded high turnout in the Central Java town of Magelang where chairman Harmoko was present and in Jakarta where senior cabinet ministers addressed supporters.
Reports from various cities in Java said Golkar members came to the campaign sites but left to hold street rallies.
Holding street rallies is forbidden but both the PPP and Golkar have violated this rule.
Supporters said they were not keen to listen to campaigners' speeches because no cabinet ministers turned up.
Hari Wahyudi from Golkar's East Java chapter said the minister of finance, Mar'ie Muhammad, the minister of religious affairs, Tarmizi Taher, and the state minister of population, Haryono Suyono, did not make it to campaigns in Kediri, Malang and Banyuwangi because they were busy.
Besides the three ministers, businessman Probosutedjo, House speaker Wahono, and former vice president Sudharmono also failed to campaign for Golkar in East Java.
The state minister of public housing, Akbar Tandjung, who was supposed to address a Golkar gathering in Yogyakarta, also failed to appear before 20,000 waiting supporters. No explanation was given.
Harmoko and secretary-general Ary Mardjono in Magelang reiterated Golkar's commitment to alleviating poverty.
The minister of cooperatives and small enterprises, Subiakto Tjakrawerdaya, spoke of raising the poor's living standards while campaigning in Cilacap, Central Java. (imn/har/23/38)