Hoodlums fight for control in Yogya

Hoodlums fight for control in Yogya

Asip A. Hasani, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta

While Yogyakarta is a popular tourist destination, it also houses
the headquarters of several extremist organizations, such as
Laskar Jihad and Majelis Mujahidin. Their presence could tarnish
the city's efforts to promote tourism.

If that was not enough, violence has frequently erupted
between supporters of rival political parties in the city, who
sometimes wear Ninja-style outfits when attacking. So far, there
has been no sign that the violence will end in the near future.

The latest violence flared up on Wednesday afternoon when
attackers stormed Mataram movie theater wounding at least three
people.

And last week, at least three people were killed, dozens of
others injured, several houses and kiosks burnt or damaged during
the latest attacks.

Two of the casualties, Nurgiyanto and Sigit, were supporters
of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan),
while the other one, Sofyan Handono, was a suspected member of
the Ka'ba Defender Movement (GPK), a youth group affiliated to
the United Development Party (PPP).

The spate of incidents have confused the public as leaders of
the two parties have always denied any involvement in the
attacks.

If the incidents have nothing to do with PPP and PDI
Perjuangan, why do attackers often target supporters of the two
parties or their local offices?

Both rival party leaders have signed peace pacts, but this has
been proven fruitless to end the violence, which just goes to
prove that they have failed to control their respective
supporters, particularly the hoodlums among them.

"It's true that we can't fully control our supporters. But we
need to emphasize that clashes between our supporters and rivals
have nothing to do with political parties," Tatang Setiawan,
deputy PDI Perjuangan chairman of Yogyakarta provincial branch,
told The Jakarta Post.

Similar confessions were expressed by local deputy PPP
chairman Sukri Fadholi, who added that a "third party" was also
involved in the violent clashes, though he declined to be
specific.

Many say the incidents were related to rival hoodlums
struggling for political influence and control over certain areas
of the city.

"This is a conflict between different groups of hoodlums
affiliated with PDI Perjuangan and PPP," said a police detective,
who wished to remain anonymous.

He said last week's attacks were retaliation by hoodlums
linked to PPP who wanted to take revenge against earlier
incidents last month by PDI Perjuangan supporters, which injured
several GPK members.

Nuruddin Amin, leader of Sorjan -- a loose coalition of
Yogyakarta's peace organizations -- said the fighting between
rival groups of thugs was, among other things, due to internal
gang struggles.

The loss of Golkar Party's political legitimacy following
Soeharto's downfall from presidency in May 1998 has prompted many
hoodlums to switch allegations to other parties, including PDI
Perjuangan and PPP, in a move to retain their power.

The hoodlums used to serve as members of Golkar's security
task force and a number of its affiliated youth organizations
such as AMPI, Cakra and Pemuda Pancasila. They controlled major
"economic resource" areas in Yogyakarta during Soeharto's
repressive New Order regime.

Now, the hoodlums were struggling to push for "regeneration"
within their groups, said Nurudin, who also chairs the Yogyakarta
branch of Ansor -- a youth wing organization of the country's
largest Muslim organization, Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).

On the other hand, the need to embrace such groups of
gangsters seems to be inevitable for major political parties in
the political system, where physical pressure is quite effective
to win competition for government posts.

"When a political party is vying for the post of regent, for
instance, hoodlums play an important role to institute physical
pressure and even terror against rivals," said political observer
Pratikno from state-owned Gadjah Mada University.

He said a political conflict turns into fighting between
gangsters.

He agreed with Nuruddin that the military have also played a
role in the conflict, which has exacerbated the situation.

At least five suspects were arrested by local police over last
week's attacks. All of the hoodlums were PDI Perjuangan
supporters.

"If no members of the rival group are arrested, I'm sure that
this violence will continue, because friends of suspects will
accuse the police of taking sides with a certain group," said a
PDI Perjuangan executive, who requested anonymity.

The number of hoodlums from PDI Perjuangan and PPP involved in
the conflict, was almost equal. But thugs from PPP control much
larger areas than PDI Perjuangan.

Umbulharjo bus station is one of the places where widespread
extortion takes place, under the control of PPP-linked hoodlums.