Military continues hunt for Banjarmasin rioters
BANJARMASIN, South Kalimantan (JP): The military here prepared for today's general election yesterday by tightening security and continuing its crackdown on suspected rioters.
Tanjungpura Military Commander Maj. Gen. Namoeri Anoem S. said yesterday afternoon the crackdown was necessary in order to secure the election.
"We are continuing it. Please pray that (the crackdown) will be finished soon," Namoeri told reporters. The general also said that security personnel had arrested 181 rioters and would probably make more arrests. All of the suspected ringleaders were already in police custody, he said.
However, acting provincial police spokesman Lt. Col. Kusbini Imbar could not confirm any new arrests or the confiscation of sharp weapons.
"I haven't received any report about that," he said.
He also said that only 106 of the 181 people originally rounded up during the riot were still in police custody, adding that some of these would soon be released due to lack of evidence.
A 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew is still in effect in the town that witnessed the worst political violence of the election campaign.
One hundred and twenty-three people died during rioting that left widespread destruction across the city.
It was sparked by clashes between Golkar supporters roaming the city streets on the last day of campaigning, and a crowd who were reportedly enraged because Golkar had started campaigning before Friday prayers had finished.
Hundreds of buildings, including houses, shops, supermarkets, cinemas, churches and hotels, were either damaged or set ablaze by the rioters in what residents recalled "eight hours of anarchy".
Security personnel, who were greatly outnumbered by the estimated 50,000 rioters, could do little to stop the riot until reinforcements arrived from outside the province at about midnight.
State Minister/Cabinet Secretary Saadilah Mursjid, who visited the riot victims yesterday, said President Soeharto had ordered that the rioters be handled in "the usual way." He did not specify.
Saadilah, who had been scheduled to be the keynote speaker at a Golkar rally in the town Friday, managed to escape from the Kalimantan Hotel before it was burned by the rioters.
The 123 bodies found in two buildings burned by the rioters, including 121 bodies on the second story of the town's largest shopping center, Mitra Plaza, were looters, police believe.
A fact-finding team sent by the National Commission on Human Rights is scheduled to arrive here today.
Banjarmasin mayor Sadjoko told reporters yesterday only five bodies had been identified. But National Police Chief Lt. Gen. Dibyo Widodo said in Jakarta there were 15 recognizable bodies.
Sadjoko said the unrecognized bodies would be buried tomorrow in a mass grave, while those already recognized would be buried in separate graves.
The bodies would be buried in accordance with Islamic tradition, "since all of them were thought to be Moslems," said the mayor.
South Kalimantan's population is more than 90 percent Moslem. (jsk)