People run amok in S. Sulawesi and N. Sumatra
UJUNGPANDANG, South Sulawesi (JP): Calm returned on Sunday to Jeneponto, a small town 60 kilometers south of here, after it was rocked by rioting on Friday over the swearing in of a disliked regent.
Hundreds of angry residents attacked the local legislative building on Friday to protest the election of Baharuddin Baso Tika. They demanded that Abdul Rachim, the head of the local legislature, nullify the September election of Baharuddin.
Rachim reportedly ignored the request and instead fired a warning shot into a wall, further angering the crowd which then set fire to the building.
No casualties were reported, and Baharuddin was officially installed by South Sulawesi Governor H.Z.B. Palaguna on Saturday at another venue.
The residents were reportedly angered by a claim by a local legislator that he had been offered a bribe of Rp 15 million (US$2,000) by a person who claimed to be a Baharuddin supporter.
An earlier investigation launched by the local police into the bribery charge was dropped owing to insufficient evidence, but protests grew against Baharuddin, who secured 19 out of 31 votes, defeating two other candidates.
During his swearing in, Baharuddin made no comment about the protests, but Palaguna said that if Baharuddin was found guilty of bribery he would lose his post.
On Sunday, the evening Suara Pembaruan daily said that hundreds of people also ran amok on Friday in the Central Sulawesi town of Poso after a teenager was stabbed in the stomach by a drunk man.
The angry mob first targeted the man's house and later moved downtown, pelting office buildings and shop-houses with stones and setting fire to a discotheque and a restaurant.
No casualties were reported, but local police recorded 13 buildings damaged, including hotels, homes and a distillery.
On Saturday, Antara reported that thousands of enraged residents shouting religious slogans attacked a red-light district near Medan, the capital of North Sumatra, on Friday and clashed with prostitutes and brothel owners.
The news agency said several people were injured in the afternoon clash which lasted more than an hour before police were able to bring the situation under control.
The around 5,000 crowd was infuriated that the Sicanang night entertainment area in Belawan, west of Medan, had not closed during the holy fasting month, the agency said.
The crowd, which included women and Muslim teachers from Medan and its surrounding districts, gathered first at Salam Mosque then marched on Sicanang, where they fought with inhabitants.
Security forces managed to persuade the mob to disperse after giving brothel owners a Monday deadline to cease activities for the rest of the fasting month of Ramadhan which ends on Jan. 19.
The North Sumatra government, like many provincial governments in the country, had asked "places of entertainment" to close during Ramadhan. (Upik Jupriadi/30/byg)