Police arrest 31 for unrest in Pekalongan

JAKARTA (JP): The number of people detained in the Central Java coastal town of Pekalongan rose to 31 yesterday as the town began to return to normal.

Residents in the batik town said fewer police were seen in public places but soldiers were still patrolling the streets.

Lt. Col. Sugeng Suryanto, spokesman for Diponegoro regional military command which oversees Central Java, said 60 shops were torched or vandalized and two truckloads of batik clothes were set on fire.

It is understood that the destroyed properties belonged to ethnic Chinese.

The ethnic Chinese minority dominates the economy and has become a target for mob violence in recent months.

Sugeng said eight rioters were hospitalized after clashing with security officers. Three policemen were also injured.

The authorities would arrest another five people they suspect of inciting the riot that broke out Monday and continued until early Wednesday, he said.

"Most of the suspects were high school students. The five inciters have been out to discredit the government and Golkar since February," Sugeng said.

The riot erupted Monday after the organizers of the planned Golkar gathering had taken down the flags of the three political groupings: Golkar's yellow flags, the United Development Party's (PPP) green flags and the Indonesian Democratic Party's red flags.

Some people said the incident erupted because supporters were upset that their parties' colors were being taken down while Golkar's yellow stage was being erected.

There has been speculation that the rioters were PPP supporters angry because the party's request to hold a gathering at Pekalongan was rejected by local authorities.

PPP chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum said his party would investigate the incident and promised to "never wash his hands" if his cadres were involved.

Robbani Thoha, deputy chief of the Central Java PPP chapter, said he was collecting information on the violence and would share the results with the military authorities.

Residents said life was now going on as usual.

"All traffic is back to normal and schools and stores are open as usual," one resident said.

A Pekalongan police officer also said the situation was back to normal.

The local resident said military authorities had deployed about 1,000 personnel to stop further rioting.

A political observer from Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University, Afan Gaffar, said the Pekalongan riot was the peak of PPP supporters' frustration over the local administration's excessive efforts to ensure Golkar win the May general elections.

Afan said Pekalongan was the only Central Java city which Golkar lost to PPP in the 1992 elections.

"No wonder the local administration is putting all its effort into regaining the missing votes," he said.

Golkar's vote dropped 12 percent in Central and East Java and Yogyakarta in the 1992 elections.

The coordinating minister for political affairs and security, Soesilo Soedarman, said the riot was sparked by the arrogant actions a political organization's supporters.

Although he did not say so, people believe he was referring to the ruling Golkar.

He also blamed the local administration for being unfair in granting permits for political activities.

The local Alert Command Center should have been able to detect and prevent the riot, he said.

Alert Command Centers needed to improve their detection and prevention methods, he said.

"There are command centers which do not perform their tasks properly," he said.

Speaking after chairing a coordinating ministerial meeting on political and security affairs, Soesilo called on people to participate in the early detection and prevention of riots.

"Security matters should not lie on the shoulders of soldiers alone. People have to participate in anticipating and preventing riots from happening," he said.

He said alert command centers should not be used only by soldiers, but also the people.

President Soeharto created the centers in January while receiving managers of cooperatives owned by Islamic Boarding Schools.

Soeharto said the establishment of the centers was necessary to prevent a recurrence of the riots that have rocked Indonesia in recent months.

In October, thousands of Moslems in the small East Java town of Situbondo took to the streets and burned dozens of churches, a Buddhist temple and other public facilities. Five people were killed.

On Dec. 26, thousands of Moslems went on a rampage in Tasikmalaya, West Java, over the police's mistreatment of three Moslem teachers. Four people died and over 100 buildings were burned and damaged. (imn/12/r.fadjri/har/pan)

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