PKB turns Surabaya green

SURABAYA: The National Awakening Party (PKB) concluded its campaign sessions here on Monday by turning the capital of East Java into a sea of green with thousands of supporters roaming the streets on all sorts of vehicles.

Heavy traffic jams resulted from the convoy, which the PKB held in defiance of the Surabaya Elections Supervisory Committee's warning. The party also held gatherings featuring party leaders Said Aqiel Siradj and Chofifah Indar Parawangsa and musician Franky Sahilatua, among others.

In his speech at the campaign venue on Jl. Demak, Said, who is also secretary of Indonesia's largest Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), called on party supporters to maintain national unity.

He said if PKB wins the elections, national development will be launched based on morality and professionalism.

Also campaigning on Monday was the Justice Party, whose activists held various charitable activities at 25 different locations. The programs included stalls selling cheap staple food, free medical services, and hand-outs of second-hand clothes, in Rungkut area, South Surabaya, and Margomulyo, West Surabaya. The two areas are industrial estates.

Governor Imam Utomo said he was thankful because campaigning so far had proceeded peacefully. "There have been minor violations of campaign rules, but nothing of significance such as what happened in Central Java," he said.

Imam was responding to a remark by chairman of the East Java chapter of Nahdlatul Ulama, K.H. Hasyim Muzadi, that 25 provocateurs from Jakarta had recently entered Surabaya.

Hasyim said the provocateurs were seeking to create unrest as he said they had done in East Timor, West Kalimantan, Maluku and Pekalongan in Central Java. (nur)