'Pecalang' thwart NGO rally in Bali

'Pecalang' thwart NGO rally in Bali

The Jakarta Post, Nusa Dua, Bali

As government delegates were negotiating an action document on
sustainable development in Nusa Dua, Bali, on Saturday morning,
hundreds of activists from non-governmental organizations and
civil society groups staged a peaceful rally nearby.

During the rally, the activists criticized developed
countries' delegations to the ongoing preparatory committee
meeting for the World Summit on Sustainable Development. The
activists accused these delegations of siding with multinational
corporations at the expense of sustainable development.

"We see that governments, when legislating and preparing
agreements, think more about the benefits to international
corporations, and they don't care about the social and
environmental problems in the world," said Ricardo Navarro, the
president of Friends of the Earth International, in his speech at
the Chandra Loka Amphitheater.

The speech was followed by a number of performances, including
the traditional kuda lumping (prancing horse) dance and a gamelan
performance.

The rally, however, soon lost steam with the arrival of
Balinese traditional security guards, or pecalang.

Dozens of pecalang, with their black attire with signs of the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), blocked
the exits of the amphitheater when activists from various
countries attempted to march to the complex in Nusa Dua where the
UN meeting was being held.

There was no violence reported, but a number of the activists
sat down in the amphitheater and refused to leave.

The chairwoman of the Indonesian People's Forum (IPF), Emmy
Hafild, was extremely angry that the pecalang interrupted the
rally.

Emmy met with representatives of the Bali Police and the
pecalang, during which she accused the police of deliberately
trying to pit the traditional security guards against the
protesters.

"They (pecalang) said so themselves. They said that they had
received instructions from Bali Police Headquarters," she charged
angrily.

In response to the charge, the chief of Bali's riot police,
Sr. Comr. Ismail, replied: "It was just a misunderstanding."

Nevertheless, the police agreed that they would not interfere
in the activities of the activists during the UN meeting, as long
as they conducted themselves according to the law.

Meanwhile, security has been tightened around the venue for
the UN meeting ahead of the ministerial meeting on June 5 that
will be opened by Indonesian President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

The police were checking cars and screening visitors to the
Bali International Convention Center. Only those with UN-issued
ID cards were being allowed into the complex.

Mounted police were seen patrolling the complex, and K-9 units
were also checking the venue.

The number of police officers and security personnel in Nusa
Dusa has also been increased.

Security personnel are also screening people arriving in Bali.
At least 12 people attempting to attend the IPF rally were
arrested in Kuta and another IPF participant was arrested in
Denpasar on Saturday, all for carrying sharp weapons.

They were brought to Denpasar Police Headquarters on
Saturday for questioning, according to Kuta Police chief Adj.
Com. M. Anwar.

"They are not being formally detained or arrested. I must make
the point clear that we just brought them in for questioning.

"They said that the weapons were for a cultural exhibition to
be held by the IPF in Nusa Dua. We are waiting for a letter from
the IPF that will verify their claim," Anwar told The Jakarta
Post.

Thousands of security personnel, including police officers,
military soldiers and hundreds of pecalang, have been deployed to
secure the first UN event in the country for the past 10 years.

While inside the venue for the meetings, government
delegations worked overtime on Saturday to deliberate the
numerous contentious issues involved in the action plan for the
implementation of sustainable development.

Those issues that were not resolved on Saturday included what
if any actions to take in order to move toward renewable energy;
the establishment of a world solidarity fund for poverty
eradication; how to prevent desertification; and how to change
unsustainable patterns of consumption and production.

The unresolved issues also included time-bound measures to
implement those actions, as well as an institutional framework to
monitor the implementation of sustainable development principles
by countries.