July 27 tragedy marked peacefully in other cities
SURABAYA (JP): Commemorations of the bloody incident in Jakarta on July 27, 1996, passed off peacefully yesterday in several cities across the country.
Troops and police officers appeared to be tolerant of street rallies staged by loyalists of ousted Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) Megawati Soekarnoputri in the Central Java cities of Purwokerto and Semarang, and also in South Sulawesi capital of Ujungpandang, despite the rallies being formally banned.
Here, no street rallies were staged to mark the forcible takeover of the PDI headquarters in Jakarta, which left at least five dead and 23 missing.
Instead, 300 Megawati supporters gathered at the PDI office on Jl. Kendangsari Industri 57 to pray and watch video footage of the incident.
The commemoration was led by Megawati faction chapter chief Sutjipto and was attended by noted human rights lawyer Trimoelja D. Soerjadi.
Participants used the occasion to award an "honor from the people" to former East Java military commander Maj. Gen. Djadja Suparman -- now Jakarta military chief -- for his success in keeping Megawati loyalists and the whole province calm during the recent unrest.
The group was referring to the massive destruction during rioting in May that took place especially in Jakarta, some West Java towns and the Central Java town of Surakarta.
The award was also given because Djadja invited Sutjipto to attend his transfer of duty to his successor Maj. Gen. Djoko Subroto.
Sutjipto regarded the invitation last July 17 as "a brave recognition (of his position as legitimate PDI chief)" from a high-ranking military officer.
In Malang, another East Java town, the tragedy was commemorated with a speech contest, the theme of which was democracy. Antara did not say how many people participated or who won the competition.
In Semarang -- which has suffered a bout of rumors that fresh violence would break out yesterday -- hundreds attended the commemoration held at a branch office on Jl. Brigjen Katamso.
Antara said the businesses in the city were running as usual the whole day through.
Later on in the day, some Megawati supporters marched to the nearby mayor's office on Jl. Pemuda -- under tight security -- to announce their demand that Minister of Home Affairs Lt. Gen. Syarwan Hamid and Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Gen. (ret) Feisal Tanjung resign over their alleged involvement in the bloody incident.
Feisal and Syarwan were respectively Armed Forces (ABRI) commander and the ABRI chief for sociopolitical affairs at the time.
Both men -- under former president Soeharto's regime -- were also backers of Soerjadi who held the party's breakaway congress to topple Megawati in Medan, North Sumatra, one month before the July 27 tragedy.
Syarwan explained yesterday that he was not entirely responsible for the incident.
In Purwokerto and Ujungpandang, the commemoration was marked with street rallies by Megawati loyalists, with police giving only mild warnings to organizers to keep events orderly. (nur/43/37/23/44)