Only 4,000 people attend 'peaceful poll' gathering

JAKARTA (JP): Some 4,000 people, including housewives and children, attended a gathering to promote a peaceful general election at the 110,000-seat Senayan soccer stadium in Central Jakarta on Sunday morning.

The number of attendees, mostly attired in sports apparel, appeared to be fewer than it was due to the vastness of the stadium, which has a more than 110,000-person capacity.

Most of the participants in the gathering, called "Indonesian Families for a Peaceful Poll", were couples and their children who had just completed their weekly jog around the sports complex.

The corners of the stadium were covered with large banners carrying messages in black writing. Some of them read: "Let's Prevent Violence" and "Peaceful Poll '99."

The three-hour gathering, which started at 8 a.m., was held by young professionals, such as political analyst Eep Saefulloh Fatah and an executive of SCTV television station, Riza Primadi, and NGO activists.

No incidents occurred in the meeting, which was secured by dozens of soldiers and People's Security (Kamra) civilian militia.

Led by comedian Deddy Gumelar, popularly known as Mi'ing from the Bagito group, the gathering featured poetry recitals, music and scenes from the popular television drama Si Doel Anak Sekolahan.

Some entertainers performing on the 10 meter by five meter stage were noted poets W.S. Rendra and Taufik Abdullah, six-year- old singer and millionaire Joshua, and the TV drama's stars Mandra, Basuki and Cornelia Agatha.

Out of the 48 political parties invited by the organizers, only 15 of them sent representatives to the gathering.

Big audience

The organizers earlier boasted that the gathering would attract some 20,000 people.

"We're not aiming for a big audience. The most important thing is that our message will reach the public," Eep Saefulloh, chairman of the organizing committee, said.

During the meeting, Joshua read a petition titled "Hope of Indonesian Families", calling for the 48 parties contesting the June 7 general election and all poll monitoring bodies to be just and fair.

The petition also asked the political parties and the monitoring bodies to do their utmost to avoid clashes between party supporters during the campaign period and on voting day.

In response to the calls, representatives of the 15 parties, who mostly wore no party attributes, vowed to meet the requests.

"The petition is hopefully to be signed by representatives of all parties as well as many Indonesian families," Eep Saefulloh said on the sidelines of the meeting.

According Eep Saefulloh, thousands of Indonesian families had already signed the petition directly or through facsimile and executives of 39 political parties had voiced commitment to signing the petition.

"The petition will be handed over to the General Elections Commission (KPU), the police and the central government on May 18," he said.

The campaign period will officially start on May 19 across the country.

Eep Saefulloh said the gathering was designed as a medium to articulate Indonesian families' concern of possible clashes or uproar during the campaign period and on voting day.

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The meeting, he said, would be followed by simultaneous advertisements through print and broadcast media.

The activities have been financed by several donors, including individuals and groups, Eep Saefulloh added.

The United Nations Development Program, for instance, donated US$10,000 (about Rp 80 million) to the organizers.

"This gathering alone cost Rp 330 million," he said.

"We'll continue to run this antiviolence campaign even after the general election," he said.

Most families attending the Sunday gathering expressed hope that the upcoming polls would see no rioting.

"I hope there will be no riots during the poll. I'm afraid the price of basic needs will go up further should riots be ignited again," said Eva, a housewife living in Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta.

She said she had no purpose in joining the gathering with her sister, she just happened to be in there jogging around the sports complex.

Housewife Rusti of Pluit Dalam in North Jakarta said she and her two children went to the complex specifically to attend the meeting after reading an advertisement on it in a newspaper.

"It's the artists that lured us here, but I also understand the importance of the meeting," said Rusti.

Jobless Iswahyudi of Petamburan, Central Jakarta, strongly hoped that the city would see no mayhem during election activities.

"If it's a big success, our country's economy will be better and it will be easy for me to get a job soon," he said.

Similar gatherings were also held in the West Java capital of Bandung and in Yogyakarta on Sunday.

In Bandung, the "Peaceful Parade for 1999 Polls" involved supporters of all political parties, which sparked the anger of other participants when members of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) turned up with hundreds of followers.

All parties previously agreed to take part in the parade, kicked off by West Java Governor R. Nuriana, with a maximum of 50 supporters and three vehicles.

PDI Perjuangan supporters, however, arrived in dozens of heavily packed trucks, cars and motorcycles.

But no incidents took place.

In Yogyakarta, about 3,000 people prayed together for a peaceful general election in a mass gathering led by Governor Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X. (01/43/23/44)