Mass rallies fan out across the country
JAKARTA (JP): Jakarta and several other major cities across the country played host to mass street rallies airing various grievances on Monday.
No clashes were reported as of last night.
The rallies, mostly staged by university students, included one objecting to the almost daily student demonstrations in Jakarta and several showing support for Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri.
In the South Sulawesi capital of Ujungpandang, about 5,000 students thronged the main streets to denounce the actions of students in Jakarta.
Protesters said students demonstrators in Jakarta were "pushy in furthering their will and prone to anarchy".
The students also urged demonstrators in Jakarta to stop condemning President B.J. Habibie.
Habibie, a candidate in the presidential election in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) on Wednesday, was born in the port city of Pare-Pare, some 230 kilometers north of Ujungpandang.
"Let the MPR members decide ... do not mock him based on ethnicity. Don't think that only Jakartans can act like hoodlums," the group said.
They also urged a halt to the mass deployment of followers of PDI Perjuangan.
The students were from Hasanuddin University, Makassar State University, Indonesian Muslim University and State Islamic Institute (IAIN), the four biggest universities in the province.
"We hit the streets to support the MPR members. They were chosen by the people and we are supposed tp give them a chance to channel public aspirations," said student spokeswoman of the Indonesian Muslim University S.Y. Nadia.
There is no need to pressure the legislators in the name of public interest, she added.
"Do those students in fact have their own interests?" Nadia said.
Iswary Al Farizy of Makassar University added: "Students in Jakarta act as if they are the saviors and owners of this republic. The movement is counterproductive because they are terrorizing the legislators."
His group said the student movement must be impartial.
"If they side with certain parties, it means that they deny the essence of morality in the student movement," Iswary said.
In Semarang, about 5,000 supporters of PDI Perjuangan reportedly left for Jakarta on Monday to show their support for Megawati.
"They've already left and we could not stop them as it was their own wish. We could only remind them to act in an orderly manner and not instigate disturbances during the General Session," the PDI Perjuangan secretary in Semarang, Mulyo Wirasmo, said.
Meanwhile, about 1,000 of the party's task force members also left for Jakarta from Demak regency in Central Java.
"They have departed of their own accord and paying their own expenses, not on the party's orders," PDI Perjuangan chairman in Demak M. Ghofar said.
In Surabaya, protesters grouped in the People's Action Movement (GAM) wore PDI Perjuangan attributes as they marched along the city's main avenues on Monday.
They condemned Habibie for his failure to uphold human rights and eradicate corruption, collusion and nepotism.
Waving huge banners in support of Megawati, the group repeatedly shouted "Megawati or Revolution" and "If Habibie fails, give it to Mega".
They also urged crowds of onlookers to support Megawati as the country's fourth president.
No clashes were reported during the tightly guarded protest.
"If Megawati is betrayed by the political elite, the people are ready for revolution," shouted the protesters.
A source said that hundreds of Megawati supporters were about to leave the West Java capital of Bandung in 50 buses early Tuesday for Jakarta.
They are expected to arrive at the Pulogadung and Kampung Rambutan bus terminals at 5 a.m. on Tuesday. (27/har/nur/edt/bsr)