One PPP supporter killed in Pasuruan

PASURUAN, East Java (JP): The United Development Party (PPP) broke up the early days of quiet campaigning yesterday by pouring supporters into the streets of Jakarta and other parts of Java.

At least one PPP supporter was killed and another injured in a road accident during a huge rally in Pasuruan, one of PPP's strongest bases in East Java, the party said last night.

Riding trucks, buses, vans and motorcycles, they roamed and jammed major streets in obvious violation of campaign rules, which ban such street rallies.

In Jakarta, the street rally triggered heavy traffic jams on main streets in the afternoon. City police officers briefly stopped an unruly convoy and read them the riot act at city police headquarters.

The largest rally took place in East Java where countless PPP youths formed a convoy, traveling 25 kilometers from Bangil to Pasuruan, where PPP chief Ismail Hasan Metareum was present.

Turning the coastal town into a sea of people in green attire, Moslem-oriented PPP got a police warning for breaching a campaign rule by raising the issue of injustice.

The written warning was issued when senior PPP politician Sa'ad Syamlan was addressing a crowd of 50,000 enthusiastic supporters at Warungdowo soccer field.

Syamlan raised the issue of political injustice and worsening economic disparity that he said had affected Moslems over the past 30 years.

At about 12 p.m., after 30 minutes at the podium, a person gave him a piece of paper signed by Chief Sergeant Mariyana of the Pasuruan police precinct.

Syamlan, a respected Moslem propagator from Madura and a legislator, read out the letter to the crowd. He was accused of attacking the state ideology Pancasila, the 1945 Constitution, undermining the government and setting up one group against another.

"This is a strange warning. This is the first I have received since becoming a campaigner in 1971," he told supporters, who jeered and encouraged him to ignore the warning. And he did.

Syamlan did not mean to slander anyone, in which he had ample evidence to back up his defense.

"What I am doing is to warn people so that they will not be easily fooled by claims that the success of development was the work of a certain political group," he said in obvious reference to PPP rival, Golkar.

It's yet to be seen if Syamlan faces prosecution for the "offense".

PPP chief Ismail Hasan Metareum, who had addressed the rally earlier, commented that Syamlan did nothing wrong because what he alleged was public knowledge.

The PPP central executive board denied rumors that one supporter was killed in a clash with security authorities in Pasuruan.

"The news is totally inaccurate," the party said in a statement. "It's true that one person was killed, but it was due to a traffic accident, not because of a clash with police."

The accident happened when a bus, also carrying supporters, skidded and rammed into a motorcycle. The motorcyclist was killed and the passenger was injured.

Pasuruan PPP secretary A. Aziz Saleh Bazed said he heard unconfirmed reports about a clash between PPP supporters and security authorities, but he did not hear about the fatality.

Pasuruan is one of PPP's strongholds. In the 1992 election, the party swept almost 50 percent of the vote. The ruling Golkar got 39 percent and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) got almost 11 percent.

In Semarang, the PPP campaign also focused on the issue of alleged widespread corruption in bureaucracy and the widening gap between the rich and poor, but no one got a warning.

Featuring politician Yusuf Syakir from Jakarta and Central Java PPP chairman Karmani, the campaign alleged that economic and political development favors only a few groups.

"Most PPP supporters are poor and marginalized," Karmani told the gathering of 10,000 supporters, who braved heavy rains in a soccer field.

A PPP rally held under heavy security in Pekalongan, Central Java, attended by thousands of people, passed without incident.

Pekalongan was the scene of violence involving Golkar and supporters last month. Security was given special attention to in the Batik coastal town.

Meanwhile, PDI held its first-day campaign in North Sumatra, Bali and East Nusa Tenggara without incident.

Golkar Chief Harmoko was addressing thousands of supporters in the Central Kalimantan capital of Palangkaraya.

He repeated the party's commitment in continuing government efforts to eradicate poverty and create more employment opportunities. (nur/har/pan)

More stories on Page 2

Fair pool -- Page 4