Gus Dur supporters and opponents stage rallies

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)