Thu, 23 Sep 1999

Protesters target Australian Embassy again

JAKARTA (JP): The Australian Embassy was kept alert again on Wednesday when two groups of some 100 angry Indonesians held protests in front of the embassy compound in South Jakarta.

Police kept security tight and there were no serious incidents.

The first group of at least 40 members from the United Islamic Reform Movement (GRIT) demanded Canberra treat Indonesians staying in Australia properly.

The Muslim protesters wanted the Australian government and its people to stop blaming the Indonesian public for events in East Timor.

"We urge the Australian government not to blame the Indonesian people for what has been happening in East Timor," GRIT's coordinator Muhammad Abudan said.

"How many Indonesian people have so far been harassed in Australia? Here, only a few Australians have experienced similar intimidation," Abudan explained.

He urged the Australian government to respect Asian values, saying that Australia is not in Europe and that it should therefore respect the feelings of its Asian neighbors.

The second group of 50 people calling themselves the Committee of Student and Youth Action (Kampud) hung a black banner reading "Crush Australia" in front of the embassy to express their resentment at what they termed Australian interference in Indonesia's internal affairs.

"We urge the Australian government to apologize to the Indonesian government," Kampud coordinator Edy Chumaidi told the media.

The protesters also urged Interfet commander Maj. Gen. Peter Cosgrove to make sure that his 8,000 personnel remain neutral in performing their tasks, especially when disarming proautonomy militiamen.

The protesters had prepared car tires to set alight, but security personnel removed the tires before they could do so.

The demonstrators yelled at the security officers to return their tires, but to no avail.

Afterward, two of the demonstrators took off their shirts and burned the garments instead.

In Semarang, 150 members of Pemuda Pancasila youth organization also staged an anti-Australia protest in front of the Central Java Council later in the day.

The protesters claimed that about 80,000 of its members in the province were ready to fight the Australian-led troops in East Timor.

"We're ready to die defending our country. We won't let foreign troops walk freely all over East Timor. It is still part of Indonesia," said Rahmat, chairman of the organization's Central Java branch. (03/edt/bsr)