Police arrest 31 for unrest in Pekalongan

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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