Mayor gives Megawati 24-hour reprieve

JAKARTA (JP): East Jakarta Mayor Sudarsono extended the deadline yesterday morning for deposed Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri to close down her office in the Condet subdistrict.

Sudarsono has ordered all activities in the Condet house to cease by 11.30 a.m. today, citing that the property is located in a residential zone.

The mayor told reporters that if the activities continue this afternoon, he will move in, close down and seal off the property on Jl. Raya Tengah No. 1.

"We will enforce the regulation without exception," he said.

Megawati defied the first order, sent on Monday, to close up shop by yesterday evening, saying that she has written approval from the local subdistrict chief to carry out her activities there.

Yesterday, she led a syukuran (thanksgiving ceremony) for the new office and the mood was one of continued defiance, in spite of the new closure order.

She said she had the right to run the party's activities pending a court decision over the legal status of the old PDI headquarters.

The old office on Jl. Diponegoro, Central Jakarta, has been sealed off by the police after its violent takeover in July by supporters of Soerjadi, the government-recognized PDI chairman. The house, which is the property of the government, was badly damaged in the conflict.

Mayor Sudarsono sent the first letter Monday, instructing Megawati to close her new office within three days. He invoked a 1991 bye-law stating that houses in designated residential zones cannot be converted into offices.

Megawati responded to the letter Tuesday, insisting that she had the right to use the house for official activities on the grounds that she had the local subdistrict chief's approval to do so until Oct. 4.

She said the house had been used as an office by previous tenants.

Sudarsono said he had never seen a copy of the letter from the local subdistrict chief. The only document his office had was a notification that the building is owned by Erwin Pardede, and a letter of his domicile.

Erwin, a businessman and member of the ruling Golkar political group, turned up for the thanksgiving ceremony yesterday.

He told reporters that as far as he knew, the property had been used as an office by the previous tenants for five years.

"I have never received complaints prior to this. Why the fuss now?" he asked somewhat innocently.

In an earlier development, Megawati traveled to Yogyakarta Wednesday to install members of her local chapter board.

She told her supporters there that her executive board was very much alive even though it does not have government recognition.

"I am not bragging, but the fact is that 85 percent of the PDI members nationwide still recognize my leadership," she said.

Megawati stressed that there is only one PDI central executive board, that is under her leadership and is called the "Fighting Board".

Tarigan Sibero was installed Wednesday as chairman of the Yogyakarta chapter board. (imn/kod/har)