Megawati 'should not betray the party's wishes'

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Dozens of supporters of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) expressed their anger on Wednesday at party chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri's support for the reelection of Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso.

The supporters, including victims of the July 27 tragedy and executives of the party's city branches, condemned Megawati for supporting Sutiyoso, who has been implicated in the bloody attack on the party's headquarters on July 27, 1996.

"Megawati should always remember that Sutiyoso is still implicated in the July 27 tragedy," shouted Thomas Resmol, who was among 123 party supporters who were sentenced to three-months imprisonment after the attack.

Thomas urged Megawati, who is also the country's President, not to betray the aspirations of the party, which had earlier proposed its city chapter chairman Tarmidi Suhardjo as its candidate for city governor.

To make their point, the protesters occupied the party's faction office on the fourth floor of the city council building on Jl. Kebon Sirih, Central Jakarta, for about two hours.

They demanded that the faction nominate candidates from the party, which had decided to propose 11 names, including Tarmidi, during a special meeting earlier this month. Sutiyoso was not included on the list of candidates.

"The party councillors who do not choose the candidates proposed during the meeting are undisciplined and should be punished," the party's Central Jakarta chapter chairman Richard Eulay said.

The party's central board announced on Tuesday that it had decided to nominate Sutiyoso as the former Jakarta military commander was deemed to be capable of maintaining security in the capital ahead of the next general election in 2004 and the General Session of the People's Consultative Assembly in 2005.

Tarmidi, who is also the party's city chapter chairman and the council's deputy chairman, has insisted on running in the gubernatorial election, which is scheduled for Sept. 17.

As the largest faction on the council with 30 seats, the party will play an important role in the election, which will be conducted by secret ballot. A total of 84 councillors may vote in the election. The council has 85 members, but one of them has been incapacitated following a stroke.

Although public participation effectively ended with the final registration date for candidates on Saturday, Jakartans can still come to the council chamber to show their support for or protest against individual candidates.

Besides the PDI Perjuangan supporters, at least 120 members of the Islamic Defenders' Front (FPI) also staged a protest at the council on Wednesday to reject Sutiyoso's candidacy.

They unfurled a banner which read: "Sutiyoso, the little Pharaoh," comparing Sutiyoso to the pharaohs of ancient Egypt.

"We reject Sutiyoso, who prefers sitting in night clubs than thinking about the poor," the group's spokesman Djafar Sidiq said in a speech.

Without naming any gubernatorial candidates, the group demanded that the next governor be a Betawi (native Jakartan), a community the FPI characterized as being of high moral fiber.

There are two strong Betawi candidates, namely the current deputy governor for social welfare affairs, Djailani, and City Secretary Fauzi Bowo.