Gus Dur supporters burn Golkar offices

Gus Dur supporters burn Golkar offices

SURABAYA (JP): The anger of President Abdurrahman Wahid's
supporters boiled over on Wednesday when they torched Golkar
Party offices in Surabaya, Mojokerto and Malang, all in East
Java.

In protest at the censuring of the President by the House of
Representatives (DPR) over the Bulog and Brunei financial
scandals, tens of thousands of the President's supporters
continued to vent their anger publicly.

Arriving from Pasuruan, Situbondo, Gresik, Mojokerto and towns
on the island of Madura, the President's supporters marched to
the Surabaya Golkar office on Jl. Kertamanunggal at about 2:30
p.m. Some of them started to pelt the building with stones before
hundreds of them stormed onto the grounds and started to ransack
the building under the gaze of the security forces.

The security forces fired warning shots but these failed to
deter the attackers.

They set the building ablaze as well as two Toyota Kijang vans
parked in the grounds. The building was reduced to a charred ruin
within the space of two hours as two fire engines were prevented
by the mobs from approaching the scene.

At the same time, other Golkar Party offices in Mojokerto and
in the regency of Dau, Malang, were also set ablaze by mobs.

Six people, including two policemen and four reporters, were
injured in Wednesday's disturbances in Surabaya.

The Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI) condemned the
attacks on the journalists, saying that such actions were
unacceptable.

East Java is the home to Abdurrahman's supporters.

The anarchy brought Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city,
to a halt. The streets were mostly deserted as shops closed for
the day.

The city's main thoroughfares, such as Jl. Urip Sumohardjo,
Jl. Pahlawan, Jl. Raya Darmo, Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Basuki Rachmat
were quiet. However, residents, including housewives and
children, enjoyed watching the demonstrators' from the sidewalks.

Price to pay

Responding to the escalating anger of his supporters in East
Java, the President reiterated later on Wednesday his calls for
restraint among his supporters.

"I truly call on the people to exercise restraint,"
Abdurrahman told a snap press briefing at the Merdeka Palace.

He said, however, that the attack on Golkar's office in
Surabaya earlier in the day was "understandable" and was "the
price everybody has to pay for democracy".

"It (the attack) has shown that the people are really outraged
by what has been perpetrated by the House," said the President,
referring to attempts being made in the House to bring forward a
special session of the People's Consultative Assembly.

"The incident is actually a sad lesson for all of us and this
should not be allowed to continue," Abdurrahman added.

He then called on the media not to publish provocative
statements that would only exacerbate the tension between his
supporters and their political opponents.

Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tandjung, after a late night
meeting in Jakarta with party regional chapter representatives,
said the party "regrets and condemns" the attacks.

"We call on the security forces to take resolute action and
prevent the destruction of Golkar property.

"Since the attackers claim to be supporters of the President,
we call on President Abdurrahman Wahid to make a statement to
calm the situation in East Java," Akbar said, adding that it was
the constitutional duty of the President to ensure order and
security across the country.

Akbar said that the party would file an action against the
government, the police and the "anarchists", stressing that
Golkar was an officially registered and legal party.

Separately on Wednesday night, Coordinating Minister for
Political, Social and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
when asked stated that at this current juncture the central
government could not declare a state of emergency in the affected
areas.

"It will be up to the administrations in those areas to
decide," he remarked after chairing a ministerial meeting on
political and security affairs.

Also in Jakarta, chairman of the Jakarta chapter of Golkar,
Yasril Ananta Baharudin, urged the police to take firm measures
against those attacking Golkar offices.

"If this happens again and the East Java Police chief is
unable to handle it, we will consider him to have failed in the
performance of his duty and will thus ask the government to
replace him," Yasril warned.

During Wednesday's meeting with the House of Representatives
defense and information commission, National Police chief Gen.
Surojo Bimantoro, said that the police lacked sufficient
personnel to handle the situation in East Java.

Meanwhile, thousands of students flocked to the Hotel
Indonesia traffic circle in Jakarta, repeating their demands that
the President step down. Braving the rain, the students marched
to Merdeka Palace to voice their aspirations.

In Yogyakarta, some 7,000 supporters of Gus Dur took over Jl.
Malioboro to call for the dissolution of the Golkar Party, which
they said had masterminded the recent political chaos. They also
demanded that Akbar quit his post as House speaker.

Police said, however, that everything remained under control.

In Bandung, hundreds of Gus Dur supporters attacked the
Islamic Students' Association (HMI) secretariat on Jl. Sabang.

The demonstrators broke windows in the building, but no
clashes were reported.

In the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar, anti-Abdurrahman
feeling was still evident on Wednesday when a group of students
condemned the vandalism conducted by Gus Dur's supporters.

In Semarang, some 50 students from the Indonesian Muslim
Students' Association took to the streets, shouting that Gus Dur,
Megawati Soekarnoputri (the Vice President), Amien Rais and Akbar
Tandjung were all traitors to the nation.

In Kendal, thousands of Gus Dur supporters blocked the roads,
causing traffic jams on the northern coastal route that lasted
for three hours. They demanded that Gus Dur stay in office until
2004 and that the Golkar Party be disbanded. (team)