Megawati camp refused July 27 meeting permit

Megawati camp refused July 27 meeting permit

JAKARTA (JP): National Police chief Lt. Gen. Roesmanhadi said
yesterday he would not allow the Indonesian Democratic Party
affiliated to Megawati Soekarnoputri to hold a meeting to
commemorate the bloody incident of July 27 because the group are
not officially recognized by the government.

He said a permit could not be given to a group which was not
officially recognized by the government.

"We received a request to hold such a meeting, but it is not
clear which (PDI) group submitted it," he said.

There are currently two PDI groups, one of which is led by
Megawati and the other by Soerjadi. Megawati was appointed as the
party's chairwoman at a congress in Surabaya, East Java, in 1993.
Soerjadi was subsequently appointed chairman at a government-
backed congress held in Medan, North Sumatra, in 1996.

"Law No.8/1985 states clearly which political parties are
legal in this country. The government only recognizes the PDI led
by Soerjadi," Roesmanhadi told a media conference.

He reiterated that commemorating the event in public would
only lead to chaos.

"The commemoration, if held in the National Monument park, the
Senayan complex, or any other public area, would attract a mass
gathering. Who's going to guarantee public safety then?

"If they want to make it an indoor activity, please, go ahead.
But they still need to obtain official permission to do so," he
added.

Meanwhile, Jacob Nuwa Wea, chairman of the pro-Megawati
supporters' commemoration meeting committee, vowed yesterday that
his party would press ahead with its plan despite not having
written permission from the authorities.

Jacob argued the meeting could go ahead because Jakarta Police
chief Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman had already given his
permission.

"The chief personally told me during our meeting last week to
go ahead with the plan. He asked participants in the meeting to
maintain order before, during and after the event," he said.

Jacob said the commemorative meeting was scheduled to be held
on Monday between 1 p.m and 3 p.m. at Istora Senayan and was
expected to be attended by around 5,000 members and sympathizers
of the party.

He said that he and Noegroho had agreed to terms which the
party and all participants at the meeting must abide by.

For example, the meeting is exclusively for PDI members and
sympathizers from Jakarta's five mayoralties.

"It's not a party. It's supposed to commemorate the tragic
ambush (of the PDI's headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro, 58) in 1996.
It's to remember our friends and relatives who died or went
missing during and after the attack," Jacob said.

Twenty seven PDI activists reportedly went missing after the
incident. Seven have since reappeared, but 20 are still missing.

Eyewitnesses said the July 27 incident began when stones and
Molotov cocktails were thrown at Megawati supporters inside the
building. They retaliated by throwing stones back at their
assailants. Riot police reportedly watched the confrontation for
a considerable time before finally storming the building.

Jacob said he had also agreed that those attending the meeting
would only wear the party's T-shirt bearing Megawati's image.
Participants must meet at the party's branch offices to obtain
identification stickers for cars and buses which they plan to use
to travel on to Senayan.

Participants would not be allowed to chant slogans on their
way to and from the meeting, undertake a march, use bamboo, wood
or metal flag poles and not to carry non-plastic water containers
into the Istora building, he added.

Jacob said he had guaranteed Noegroho that participants in the
meeting would observe this code of conduct.

"All of us will certainly behave ourselves and not create
chaos. If there is any chaos, it will have been started by those
who don't like or want us to hold the meeting," he said.

He said the party had chosen to hold the commemorative meeting
indoors and not at the party headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro
because the site was still officially a crime scene in the
authorities investigation of the 1996 incident. (edt/cst)