More campaign violence hits Java

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Campaign violence continued across Java yesterday with sporadic clashes between supporters of the dominant Golkar and their United Development Party (PPP) rivals.

Golkar supporter Kusbiantoro Cahyo was stabbed in the stomach when PPP supporters raided a Golkar convoy in Ngampilan subdistrict, a renowned PPP stronghold, here. He was taken, while unconscious, to Sardjito General Hospital.

Golkar supporters replied by attacking students at Yogyakarta's Islamic University on Jl. Tamansiswa, smashing windows of two parked cars and causing dozens of students to panic. One Golkar supporter wielded a Samurai sword.

The supporters were returning from a Golkar rally at Kridosono Stadium which had featured Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Soesilo Soedarman and former inspector general of development Kardono.

Witnesses said the attack had lasted five minutes while security personnel turned a blind eye.

The students then protested, but were dispersed by police and soldiers.

Other clashes occurred near Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic Institute on Jl. Kolombo, in Jl. Bhayangkara and in the western part of the sultanate complex. A Golkar supporter, Antonius Peda, fell off his motorcycle.

Golkar supporters had ransacked two local PPP offices on April 30.

In Temanggung, Central Java, PPP branch chief P.M. Imron was serious injured when he was stabbed and beaten by masked men outside the regency administration office just before midnight on Wednesday.

The stabbing came hours after local PPP activists' 10- kilometer march "mourning the death of democracy" ended up in an attack on public property. Dozens of government buildings, four churches and several vehicles were pelted with stones during the rampage.

Imron is in intensive care at the Temanggung general hospital. He has not regained consciousness.

Imron had just attended a meeting with his Golkar and PDI counterparts, the Temangyung regent, local election supervision committee members, the police chief and the district military commander.

"It was a murder attempt by professionals," Imron's deputy Muhammad Irfan said, adding that Imron's wife had received an anonymous death threat by telephone the night before the assault.

Kedu police chief Col. A.E. Rustandi said the assault was "purely criminal" and not political. "Never think that the incident had something to do with the long march," he said after visiting Imron, adding that police were still looking for the attackers.

Security authorities have restored order in the tobacco- producing town, but only a few shopkeepers have dared to reopen.

Fighting also marred Golkar rallies in Pasuruan, East Java, in which the party's deputy chairwoman Siti Hardiyanti Rukmana addressed around 30,000 people.

A fight broke out in Rejoso subdistrict when a Golkar convoy passed an Islamic boarding school while returning from the rally. Several students hurled stones at the motorcade, and the Golkar supporters retaliated.

The angry supporters got out of their trucks with machetes, swords and knives.

Another brawl erupted in Jatirejo subdistrict, injuring at least two people.

Golkar convoys caused traffic congestion between Pasuruan and neighboring Probolinggo. They forced Hardiyanti and her entourage to wait 30 minutes before police cleared their way to Surabaya.

In Jakarta, at least two workers at the 32-story athlete hotel construction project and five Golkar supporters were injured in a stone-throwing battle on Jl. Asia Afrika, Central Jakarta.

Police said that at least 10 cars, including a BMW, an Isuzu pick-up, a Toyota Kijang, a Suzuki Jimny jeep, and a garbage truck, were damaged in the incident which cut off the street for almost five hours.

Hundreds of workers pelted the Golkar motorcade with stones after one of their colleagues was attacked by the supporters for answering their two-finger sign with one-finger sign, the symbol of PPP.

The workers lay down their tools and started to yell. They displayed placards made of cement sacks in support of the alliance between the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) ousted leader Megawati Soekarnoputri and the PPP.

One of the placards read "Pray for Ibu Mega (Megawati)."

Hundreds of riot police, soldiers and marines were called in to curb the violence. They did not storm the construction site, leaving project officials to persuade their staff to return to work.

A similar clash between Golkar supporters and students of Borobudur University occurred in Kali Malang, East Jakarta. Two students, Wito and Erwin, were admitted to the nearby Harum Hospital where they were stitched up. (38/23/wah/jun/cst/amd)

Editorial -- Page 4