Police increase presence at Golkar offices

Police increase presence at Golkar offices

JAKARTA (JP): Police have increased the number of personnel
guarding offices of the Golkar Party following an attack by
hundreds of students on the party's branch office on Jl. Cikini,
Central Jakarta on Friday.

City Police Chief Insp. Gen. Mulyono Sulaiman said on Saturday
a company unit of police officers, numbering about 100, had been
deployed to the party's headquarters in Slipi, West Jakarta as a
precautionary measure.

He said another two company units of reinforcement officers
had been posted at the Cikini office, which has in the past few
days become the target of student protests.

"The additional personnel were brought in to anticipate
further student rallies against the party," Mulyono told
reporters.

Before Friday's attack, dozens of police had been placed at
the two main Golkar offices following destruction and arson
attacks on Golkar offices in East Java.

Mulyono condemned Friday's anti-Golkar rally, calling it an
act of violence endangering police officers by throwing molotov
cocktails.

He said nine students were being questioned in connection with
the incident. They were accused of attacking a police officer.

"We allow students to stage rallies but they should be
conducted according to the law and not simply as an occasion to
commit violence," he remarked.

More than 500 students called themselves the Golkar
Dissolution Alliance (ABG) staged a rally in front of the party's
branch office on Friday evening.

The rally turned violent when students started to throw
molotov cocktails and, in return, police officers shot tear gas
at the crowd.

Seven students were arrested while at least 10 students were
injured after being beaten by police officers who dispersed them.

The students came from several organizations, including the
University of Indonesia Student Action Forum (FAM UI), the City
Forum (Forkot), the National Student League for Democracy (LMND)
and the Collective Forum (Forbes), all of whom demanded the
dissolution of Golkar.

Silent rally

Separately on Saturday, some 25 demonstrators who claimed to
represent the Anti-Golkar Community (Fromag) staged a gagged-
mouth rally at the fountain circle in front of Hotel Indonesia
demanding the dispersal of the Golkar party on Saturday.

During the 40 minute-long rally, the protesters taped their
mouths shut with black tape.

The rally symbolized the protesters' call on the political
elite to halt their polemics through the media, the dissolution
of Golkar and the need for a trial staged for the dispersed party
in order to try former cadres.

The protesters also urged the government to avoid making
political compromises with major parties, reminding the public of
the party's efforts to lure them.

A big banner displaying a slashed banyan tree, Golkar's
symbol, was paraded during the rally. A wolf's head and a word in
Indonesian language which means greedy were added to the picture.

Another banner read: "Golkar is a shelter of corruption,
collusion and nepotism which has caused poverty to people".

In response to the continuing anti-Golkar campaign, the Joint
Secretariat for Total Reform demanded on Sunday that the former
ruling party pay US$145 billion in compensation to the state over
what it called "political, economic and human rights crimes"
Golkar committed during the New Order.

The organization's coordinator, Chandra Rahmansyah, told a
press meeting at the University of Indonesia campus in Salemba,
Central Jakarta, Golkar was subject to the repayment because as a
political machine of the past regime, the party was given
privileges in political, economic, social and cultural fields.

"During its heyday, the New Order and Golkar claimed lots of
lives, destroyed the country's natural resources and generated an
unabated economic crisis resulting from abundant foreign debts,"
Chandra said.

The organization asked Golkar to fulfill the demand by March
11 at 1 p.m., otherwise it will hold a people's tribunal to
dissolve the party.

Chandra dismissed allegations that the campaign against Golkar
was prompted to divert the public's attention away from the House
of Representatives censure of President Abdurrahman "Gus Dur"
Wahid over its role in two financial scandals.

"The demand for Golkar's dissolution is part of the reform
agenda we started in 1998. It is nothing to do with the
controversy over Gus Dur's leadership," Chandra said. (01/jun)