Public bear the brunt of rallies
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
The leader of the well-organized, Muslim-oriented Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), Hidayat Nur Wahid, was evidently pleased to see the number of people attending the party's final campaign in Jakarta at the Bung Karno Soccer Stadium on Tuesday, although in terms of substance, the campaigners only made their oft-repeated big promises.
The huge crowds in the stadium and on the streets were clearly a result of the party's hard work -- after it failed to meet the three-percent threshold in 1999 -- to expand its membership and network in the last five years.
Hundreds of thousands of supporters entered the stadium and turned it into a sea of people dressed in the party whites, chanting and yelling the PKS slogan. Thousands of others milled outside the stadium and paralyzed the surrounding traffic.
Despite the severe traffic jams across the city mainly caused by campaign activities, the PKS was able to live up to its reputation in organizing public rallies. The party's outdoor campaign was one of the most merry and crowded events in Jakarta since the campaign period started on March 11.
The Muslim-based Reform Star Party (PBR) also held a campaign on Tuesday centered in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta. Meanwhile, the Prosperous Peace Party (PDS) elected not to hold an outdoor campaign in the capital.
In between Islamic-style acapella and dance performances, Hidayat pledged to fight for justice for the people and for a clean government, and to do its utmost to stamp out corruption.
"If not for the rampant corruption, we could have allocated more funds for the people's welfare. But due to rampant corruption, we are a country with a low human resources index. We have to stand up and fight against corruption," he addressed the crowd.
Hidayat said the big turnout indicated that a great number of people were still willing to make a stand against corruption.
Also present at the campaign were Muslim scholar Nurcholish Madjid, self-styled king of dangdut music Rhoma Irama, economist Faisal Basri, businessman-cum-musician Setiawan Djody and former Jakarta Police chief Maj. Gen. (ret) Noegroho Djajoesman.
During his tenure, Noegroho initiated the formation of the Panswakarsa militia guards, which helped the police and military secure the Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) in 1998 to examine the validity of Habibie's accession to the presidency after Soeharto's ouster. On several occasions, the guards clashed with student demonstrators. His name is often linked with some hard-line Islamic groups.
Meanwhile in Tanah Abang, around 10,000 supporters gathered in a show of support for the PBR, which splintered from the Hamzah Haz-led United Development Party (PPP). The PBR is led by the so- called Muslim cleric of a million followers, Zainuddin MZ.
In Semarang, Central Java, thousands of Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) supporters clogged traffic for hours as they paraded down the city's main street in the party's last campaign round.
PDI-P leader Megawati Soekarnoputri, addressing supporters who gathered in the city's fairground after their hectic parade, said she was optimistic that the party would garner around 80 million votes in the April 5 legislative election.
She jokingly asked supporters to take on more girlfriends and boyfriends -- on the condition that they promised to vote for PDI-P.
In the West Java town of Indramayu, board member of the National Awakening Party (PKB) Nur Muhammad Iskandar said the party anticipated the possibility that PKB co-founder Abdurrahman Wahid, or Gus Dur, might drop his plan to join the presidential race.