PPP turns Jakarta, Surabaya green

JAKARTA (JP): Tens of thousands of United Development Party (PPP) supporters jammed the streets of several cities yesterday while party leaders tried to swing voters away from the split Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).

The enthusiastic supporters, mostly youths, made a sea of green through the streets of Jakarta and East Java town of Pasuruan in their party green shirts, headbands, bandannas, banners and flags which bore the party's star symbol.

Scores of people wearing T-shirts bearing the picture of Megawati Soekarnoputri, the ousted PDI leader, were seen in PPP rallies in Jakarta and other cities. Others were seen wearing PDI red as well as green shirts, some with the words "Mega-Bintang" printed on them -- suggesting that an alliance was shaping up ahead of the May 29 poll.

Others carried large PPP flags with pictures of Megawati in the middle of the star.

Some PPP officials have admitted trying to win voters by luring away discontented PDI supporters. Megawati, who was toppled in the government-backed rebel congress in Medan, North Sumatra, last June, has yet to comment on the alliance. But her aide, Soetardjo Soerjogoeritno, said she approved.

Megawati, who the government has stopped from standing for election, had told her supporters not to take part in the election.

Soerjadi, who toppled Megawati, and the government have played down the reported alliance. PPP chairman Ismail Hasan Metareum has denied making official attempts to negotiate with Megawati. He said in Bandung, West Java, that he wanted to meet Megawati but had yet to arrange an appointment.

Witnesses said the PPP street rallies in Jakarta and Surabaya were the biggest yet. Numbers may have been boosted by yesterday's national holiday.

Golkar has drawn tens of thousands to its rallies, while Soerjadi's faction of the PDI has had to campaign under the threat of possible clashes with Megawati supporters.

Thousands of PPP supporters on motorcycles, open trucks and other vehicles jammed Jl. D.I. Panjaitan in East Jakarta. Children and elderly women mingled with teenagers perched atop the roofs of buses and cars parading through the city.

Convoys and motorcades are banned and the government had repeatedly warned leaders of the three parties to control their supporters. But yesterday, PPP deputy chairman Hamzah Haz said: "Staging convoys is okay, as long as you don't destroy things."

Traffic was brought to a standstill for at least three hours on Jagorawi freeway, while Warung Buncit Raya in South Jakarta, Jl. Jatinegara Timur and Jl. Jatinegara Barat in East Jakarta and other main streets became heavily congested. It took some people an hour to travel a few kilometers.

Excited residents on Jl. Warung Buncit Raya, a PPP stronghold, unfurled a long banner that read: "PPP supporters question the follow-up to the cases of (jailbird businessman) Eddy Tansil, (slain labor activist) Marsinah, and (slain journalist) Udin... and the demolition of poor people's houses."

Jakarta's Jl. Raya Bogor, Jl. A. Yani to Tanjung Priok, Jl. Lenteng Agung and Jl. T.B. Simatupang were also jammed.

The supporters braved heavy rains until late afternoon.

PPP's campaign in Jakarta yesterday added to the number of campaign rule violations recorded by city police.

City police spokesman Edward Aritonang said 2,534 violations had occurred so far in the campaign.

In Pasuruan regency, East Java, about 50,000 PPP supporters took to the streets again yesterday. Almost every vehicle passing through the town displayed PPP attributes; many just to avoid being attacked.

Security forces adopted a more passive policy to avoid clashes in the town. On Monday, hundreds of police blocked convoys to check on supporters, which is believed to have triggered Monday's clash between security personnel and PPP supporters.

In Yogyakarta, thousands of PPP supporters rallied in the streets of four regencies, excluding the town center, after boycotting the campaign since May 2 to protest Golkar supporters' attacks on PPP supporters and the party's local offices.

The party's national headquarters ordered the local branches to resume campaigning.

"The Yogyakarta chapter's boycott, however, still stands until further notice about security reasons," the chapter's chairman Alfian Darmawan told reporters in Jakarta Wednesday.

In the Central Java capital of Semarang, PPP secretary-general Tosari Widjaya spoke to about 50,000 supporters yesterday at the Barata field.

Indonesia's largest Moslem organization Nahdlatul Ulama called on the three parties yesterday to launch orderly campaign and prevent clashes. (aan/ahy/nur/23/har/wah/swe)

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