Police break up protest by women giving flowers

Police break up protest by women giving flowers

JAKARTA (JP): Police broke up a small, peaceful, demonstration
by housewives complaining about soaring prices at the Hotel
Indonesia roundabout on Jl. M.H. Thamrin in Central Jakarta
yesterday.

Three of the dozen protesters, who handed out flowers to the
scores of heavily armed soldiers deployed at the scene in front
of several international hotels, were arrested because the group
had acted without a police permit, officials said.

The three, including astronomer Karlina Leksono, were charged
with holding a demonstration without a permit.

Protests over skyrocketing prices and the political situation
also took place at the Taman Ismail Marzuki Art Center in Central
Jakarta and in Yogyakarta.

At the art center, the 30-minute silent protest by 24
activists ended without incident while in Yogyakarta, six Gadjah
Mada students went on a hunger strike to demand political reform.

Central Jakarta police chief Lt. Col. Iman Haryatna told
reporters that the housewives would be held for questioning after
being driven away in the back of a pick-up.

"They did not have a permit to hold the protest and will be
questioned," Iman said.

The women, calling themselves The Voice of Concerned Mothers,
first displayed banners complaining about the soaring prices of
basic commodities and sang patriotic songs.

"Safeguard our milk supply," said one banner.

A statement distributed by the protesters blamed the current
dire economic situation on "the government which does not pay
attention to the interests of the common people and represses
their voices."

The women wanted the government to guarantee the availability
of essential commodities.

"We feel that the crisis in Indonesia is a great cause of
concern," they said, adding that the price of basic commodities
such as rice, cooking oil and especially milk had "soared beyond
reach."

The housewives denounced the arrests last night, saying that
the authorities had violated the protesters' basic right to
express ideas and demanded their prompt release.

In the art center protest, activists grouped in the Solidarity
for Amien and Megawati (Siaga) demanded that the government lower
prices and initiate political reform.

They were sympathizers of self-styled presidential candidate
Megawati Soekarnoputri and government critic Amien Rais.

They clutched strips of black cloth and during their silent
demonstration to protest Indonesia's economic crisis and
political system that they considered is undemocratic.

The demonstrators held their fists in the air at the main
entrance at the center.

The group's coordinator, Ratna Sarumpaet, said that the group
chose the silent approach because most of the people bearing the
brunt of the current crisis were the silent majority.

"We've gone and talked to the National Commission on Human
Rights and even to the House of Representatives but nobody has
heard us," she said.

Ratna also criticized the heavy security approach that the
government adopts to maintain stability, leaving practically no
room for the public to get their voices heard.

In Yogyakarta, the six students, two of them female, from the
School of Philosophy began their hunger strike on the campus to
dramatize their demand that the government should start political
reform.

Wearing white headbands, they vowed to continue the protest
until the government listened to their demands.

High on their list of demands was that the government should
lower prices of basic commodities. They called on certain groups
in the government and in society to stop exploiting highly
sensitive racial, religious and societal grouping issues to
divert public attention from the actual issue.

"The current crisis was mostly caused by a moral crisis," said
the students' spokesman Danang. (23/emf/byg)