Gus Dur supporters and opponents stage rallies
SEMARANG (JP): Groups of students staged rallies here on Tuesday in support of and in opposition to President Abdurrahman Wahid.
The demonstrators marched along the city's streets with dozens of police officers separating them. No clashes were reported.
The anti-Abdurrahman group consisted of some 100 students from Diponegoro University, Semarang State University, the Islamic Institute and a number of other private universities. Those marching in support of the President called themselves the Semarang People's Forum.
While delivering speeches at the provincial legislative council, the President's supporters voiced their confidence in the administration of Abdurrahman and Vice President Megawati Soekarnoputri. "Those against Gus Dur are taking to the street for money. They are bogus reformists. They must be opposed."
In Tegal, some 160 kilometers west of Semarang, around 4,000 supporters of Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), the country's largest Muslim organization, converged on the regency legislature in support of Gus Dur. They also condemned the followers of the New Order, accusing them of attempting to make a political comeback by rocking Abdurrahman's administration.
In Pekalongan, 60 kilometers east of Tegal, some 5,000 NU members marched to the legislature. They criticized Akbar Tandjung and Amien Rais, the speakers of the House of Representatives and the People's Consultative Assembly, respectively, for being inconsistent in their support of Abdurrahman, who is the former chairman of NU.
They said the House special committee investigating the Bulog and Brunei scandals was illegal. The President is allegedly linked to both of these financial scandals.
A similar scene took place in the West Java capital of Bandung on Tuesday, with dozens of Abdurrahman supporters from the West Java Youth and Student Forum burning effigies of former president Soeharto, Akbar Tandjung and Bachtiar Hamzah, the chairman of the House special committee.
"They are trying to use the probe to divert attention from corruption during the New Order regime by raising the Bulog and Brunei scams," a speaker said.
Also in Bandung, some 200 students from the Forum of Students and People for the Safety of Indonesia rallied to show their support for the House special committee. They delivered speeches in front of Bandung Indah Plaza demanding a special session be held to impeach Abdurrahman.
No violence was reported.
On Monday, police were able to prevent a clash between supporters and critics of Abdurrahman in Purwokerto.
At least 500 students rallied to demand that Abdurrahman and Megawati serve their full terms ending in 2004, while an opposing group demanded the President be impeached.
In the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar, the only member of the National Awakening Party (PKB) in the provincial legislature, Abdurrahman K, was reported missing following a student protest against the President on Monday. Abdurrahman is a cofounder of PKB.
According to reports, Abdurrahman K was despondent after the students forced him to sign a letter demanding the President resign.
Jakarta
In stark contrast to Monday, the area around the House was quiet on Tuesday, with only a few hundred supporters of the President appearing.
Some 350 people from various groups gathered to warn political leaders that people at the grass roots did not want President Abdurrahman to resign or be forced from office.
At the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta, dozens of students from various universities staged a peaceful rally. The students handed flowers to passersby and urged that the process of democratization be pursued peacefully.
Meanwhile, Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Mulyono Sulaiman said on Tuesday police have confirmed that provocateurs infiltrated student demonstrations on Monday.
He said five people were arrested for carrying sharp weapons during the demonstrations.
Also in Jakarta, chairperson of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) Megawati Soekarnoputri asked the party's supporters not to get involved in such a rally.
Megawati's message was conveyed by the party's secretary general Sutjipto at the party's board of executives meeting here on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Student Executive Body (BEM) executives from a number of universities refuted allegations they had been paid to stage antigovernment rallies on Monday.
The chairman of BEM at the Bandung Institute of Technology, Sigit Adi Prasetyo, his counterpart from Jakarta's University of Indonesia, Taufik Riyadi, and the chairman of BEM at Jakarta's Islamic Institute, Burhanudin, said during a media conference that "those accusing them of being paid might have been paid by pro-Gus Dur groups to attack us". (team)