Megawati 'should not betray the party's wishes'

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.