PPP turns Jakarta, Surabaya green

Fri, 09 May 1997, 00:00 WIB | Source: JP

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)