Peaceful sphere vital during Session: Betawi

Peaceful sphere vital during Session: Betawi

JAKARTA (JP): About 1,000 members of Masyarakat Betawi (Native
Jakartans) staged a peaceful rally in front of Hotel Indonesia on
Sunday calling for peace and calm during the General Session of
the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

The protesters marched from the Semanggi cloverleaf to the
Hotel Indonesia roundabout at about 3 p.m. They chanted Allahu
Akbar (Allah the Great) and Shalawat (pray for Prophet Muhammad)
on the way to Hotel Indonesia, which drew the attention of
passersby.

Arriving at the Hotel Indonesia roundabout at 4.15 p.m., they
unfurled posters and banners rejecting all forms of violence
committed by parties pursuing political interests. "The Betawi
don't want Jakarta to be shattered with blood," read one banner.

"We are here to show that the Betawi are peace lovers. We will
expel provocateurs who try to steer Jakarta into chaos," Habib
Umar Al Hamid, the rally coordinator, announced before the
protesters.

Hundreds of police personnel stood guard, along with some
security members of the Betawi group, inside the Hotel Indonesia
compound. The hotel is hosting some of the MPR members.

Scores of security personnel, grouped under the Tanah Abang
Big Family Union (IKBT), guarded the protesters.

Yusuf Mu'i, the IKBT chairman, said the group shared similar
concern with the protesters in bringing peace to Jakarta during
the General Session.

The 700-member MPR is set to elect a new president on Oct. 20,
an agenda with a potential risk of conflict among supporters of
each presidential candidate.

A female protester, Aziz Fachiah, called on students to stay
away from violent protests in a bid to create a peaceful
condition during the MPR General Session.

"We should use our logic in airing our demands instead of
violence," Aziz, a student at Islamic University As Syafi'iyah in
South Jakarta, said.

In a statement made available to the media, protesters urged
the city's security authority to take stern measures to curb
provocateurs and rioters which might disrupt peace and order in
the city.

The protesters dispersed peacefully after a half hour rally.

Fact-finding

Separately, a fact-finding team probing the violent Sept. 24
incident said on Sunday that security personnel unintentionally
shot into the crowd as earlier claimed.

"The bullet did not directly enter the victim, Yap Yun Hap. It
bounced off a wall or an iron bar before hitting the victim's
body," said Dadan Umar Daihani, the secretary of the team, in a
media conference at Kedai Tempo in East Jakarta.

"The bullet did not deeply penetrate in a vertical direction
into Yun Hap's body," he said.

Dadan said the bullet penetrated the victim as he went in the
opposite direction of some moving trucks carrying security
personnel on Jl. Jend. Sudirman on Friday night, Sept. 24. He was
trying to avoid bullets allegedly fired by security personnel in
a random shooting.

In a previous media conference, the coordinator of the team,
political researcher Hermawan Sulistyo, said two convoys of
between seven and eight trucks carrying security personnel passed
along the street some 10 minutes apart. He added that the
shooting which took the life of Yun Hap, a University of
Indonesia student, happened as the first convoy passed. The
location of the shooting was at the tip of Jl. Garnizun, an area
between Plaza Central and Atma Jaya University on the main road
of Jl. Jend. Sudirman in Central Jakarta.

The shooting, which claimed at least six lives, was held a day
after students conducted a mass rally to reject the state
security bill which was agreed by the House of Representatives
members to be passed as a law. (asa)