PDI congress opens in chaos, 17 hurt

PALU, Central Sulawesi (JP): Violent clashes erupted at the opening of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) congress here yesterday when hundreds of loyalists of ousted leader Megawati Soekarnoputri tried to force their way into the venue tightly guarded by security men from the government-backed party faction.

When Minister of Home Affairs Syarwan Hamid opened the gathering at the haj dormitory on Jl. Supratman, the clash intensified. The two camps exchanged harsh words and threw stones at each other for about 15 minutes, prompting the Armed Forces to fire volleys of tear gas as well as rubber bullets to disperse the scuffling crowd.

"We had to shoot at the crowd with tear gas because we were overwhelmed and the masses had become very violent," said one police officer.

He did not say anything about the use of rubber bullets, but Mercusuar local daily reported that three of Megawati's supporters sustained severe rubber bullet wounds. Out of the 14 people injured, Antara said, five were police officers.

Army Lt. Col. Jumara told reporters at the scene that 1,097 police officers had been deployed at the congress, including riot police, mass control units and regular police. Many soldiers were also present.

Party faction leader Soerjadi has also deployed 1,500 party security men.

Palu, a city of two million people, became tense yesterday morning following reports that two molotov cocktail exploded at a warehouse belonging to a local businessman.

It soon became a ghost town with schools and shops near the haj dormitory closing out of fear of massive demonstrations by Megawati supporters.

Public transportation drivers stopped operating. Razak, one of the drivers, said he preferred to lose a day's earnings than have his car smashed up by a mob. Besides, "...not many people are venturing out of their houses in need of public transportation, anyway," he said as quoted by Antara. "These past two days, our earnings have declined."

Riot police complete with rifles patrolled areas considered to be especially vulnerable to unrest.

Adding further spice to the congress was a boycott by dozens of reporters who were barred from entering the compound despite having credentials signed by PDI secretary-general Buttu R. Hutapea.

The congress, which lasts through Saturday, is being organized by Soerjadi's camp with President B.J. Habibie's blessing, despite mounting protests from many quarters. Thousands of Megawati supporters from across the country have flocked to Palu, intent on disrupting the gathering which is expected to elect a new chairman.

Megawati plans to hold her own congress in October in Bali or Yogyakarta.

Megawati was ousted in a government-backed breakaway congress in Medan, North Sumatra, in June 1996. Since then she has waged a legal battle challenging the validity of her ouster, with her popularity growing all the time.

The government has vowed to stay out of the matter, although it is still calling on the two parties to reconcile. Megawati has persistently rebuffed the call as she believes the government first has to revoke its recognition of Soerjadi's leadership and recognize her.

Election

Despite the fact that many see the Palu congress as yet another of Soerjadi's maneuvers, some actually hope that it could turn out to be the venue for the two camps' reconciliation.

It has been reported that many of the 800 official participants to the congress have now changed their stance and are supporting Megawati.

Yvonne Kasese, the chairwoman of the Palu PDI branch, said she believed Megawati had a great chance to be elected Soerjadi's replacement despite her absence from the congress. She pointed out that some branches' activists had actually started campaigning for her.

"At least five branches in Central Sulawesi have said they plan to nominate her when election time comes," Kasese was quoted by Antara as saying.

Ruslan from Aceh called on Megawati to be gracious and attend the congress so a truce could be called and the conflict ended. "This congress has a strategic value for the party's survival," he said.

Megawati is currently busy with her own affairs, attending party gatherings outside Jakarta.

In Surabaya, about 500 Megawati supporters protested against the police for helping Soerjadi supporter Dimmy Haryanto and his group go to the congress. Staging their demonstration outside of the provincial police headquarters on Jl. Ahmad Yani, the group caused heavy traffic congestion for two hours.

The activists said they were hurt by the way the local government favored Soerjadi's camp. Dimmy and activists from seven local branches were reportedly transported on three police trucks to Juanda Airport to board a flight to Palu on Monday. (30/nur/swe)