PPP activists sue governor over color war
PPP activists sue governor over color war
SEMARANG (JP): The United Development Party (PPP) kept its
promise yesterday to sue Central Java Governor Soewardi for
encouraging the public to paint public property yellow to help
Golkar win the May general election.
Party activists in Surakarta (Solo), Sragen, Boyolali, Klaten,
Sukoharjo and Wonogiri registered their lawsuit with the Semarang
district court yesterday.
Soewardi has been urging people in Central Java to paint their
fences and doors and public property such as telegraph poles,
trees and sidewalks yellow.
Yellow is the color of the dominant Golkar grouping.
The PPP activists said the governor had failed to remain
neutral by helping Golkar's campaign. His policy, they said, had
hurt the PPP and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).
They are seeking more than Rp 7 billion (US$3 million) in
damages and court costs and have demanded that the court order
the governor to sell his controversial Rp 8 billion mansion that
was built with public money.
The Moslem-oriented party promised to donate the money for
damages, if it wins the case, to the athletes in the Central Java
team who did not receive the financial rewards they were promised
for their victories at the National Games last September.
Thoyfoer, the deputy chairman of the PPP provincial branch,
said he supported the activists. Some say their case will win
voter sympathy.
"They are demonstrating their social concern. I think common
people will support their cause," he told The Jakarta Post
yesterday.
The spokesman for the Semarang district court, Sumartono, said
the court would be impartial even though the governor was the
defendant.
Governor Soewardi told the Post he was keen to answer the
accusations in court.
"Please feel free to sue me. Everyone in the province who
believes to be a victim of my policies can," he said. He is yet
to appoint defense lawyers.
The governor's "yellowization" policy met the strongest
resistance in the ancient city of Solo. In January, PPP activists
repainted yellow objects in the city white, a supposedly neutral
color.
PDI members entered the war last month when they took to the
streets repainting objects red and white, the color of the
Indonesian flag.
More recently, several staff of the Sultan of Solo's family,
voiced objections to the yellowization drive and filed a
complaint with the mayor of Solo.
The color war is continuing. Some objects in public places
have changed color six times since January with Golkar activists
repainting objects yellow and PDI and PPP activists repainting
them again.
Soehardjo, a legal expert at Diponegoro University in
Semarang, supported the PPP activists move.
"There is nothing wrong with people suing the government," he
said. (pan)