Rallies target corrupt officials
JAKARTA (JP): Emboldened by the success of student demonstrations for reform in major cities, fishermen, farmers and other groups are holding rallies to call attention to their own causes.
Many of yesterday's demonstrations were to demand that certain officials resign due to alleged corruption. In Purwokerto, a small town in Central Java, for instance, 200 farmers of Nusamangir village, Kemrajen district, rallied to demand that village chief Fuad Mahruri resign for allegedly embezzling about Rp 50 million.
Some villagers have accused the chief of embezzling the funds for youth activities. Fuad has denied the charge and blamed the demonstration on agitators.
In Semarang, the capital of Central Java, about 100 students of the local Teachers Training Institute marched to the provincial legislative council to demand that the body does not renominate Governor Soewardi for the 1998/2003 period.
In a meeting with several legislators, the students noisily demanded that the councilors state in writing that they would not renominate Soewardi, whose policies have been criticized as benefiting only a handful of people at the expense of the majority in the province.
"Soewardi does not deserve to lead the province, because all this time he has dismissed the aspirations of the people, especially that of Moslem scholars and intellectuals," one student said.
In Ujungpandang, the capital of South Sulawesi, more than 800 students demanding the resignation of Governor Z.B. Palaguna faced off yesterday with 200 members of a youth group who support him.
Soldiers and police quickly positioned themselves between the opposing groups. The demonstrators lined up about 10 paces apart and traded shouts and epithets on the grounds of the local legislature buildings.
Yesterday was the fourth day the students occupied the buildings. They have vowed not to leave until Palaguna, whom they have accused of corruption and nepotism, steps down.
The students carried banners calling for reform. Their opponents, members of the youth wing of Indonesia's largest Moslem organization, Nahdlatul Ulama, wore green T-shirts and held posters inscribed "Reform Is Already Underway," according to Reuters.
More than 100 students have also entered their fifth day of occupying the local legislature in the city of Jambi in central Sumatra, Antara reported yesterday.
The students, from Sultan Thaha Saifuddin Institute for Islamic studies, have accused local officials of allowing gambling to flourish in the district, and claim they will not leave the premises until all slot machines are destroyed.
In Medan, the capital of North Sumatra, hundreds of students, fishermen and farmers also used the momentum of the reform campaign to hold their own rallies.
They visited the Medan legislative council, the North Sumatra provincial legislature, and the governor's office. Most of the protesters demanded an end to corruption, collusion and nepotism, but also added their own grievances to the list of social ills.
For instance, the fishermen demanded that the government stop foreign trawlers operating in their waters as they threatened their livelihood.
The same group also demanded that the Provincial Prosecutor's Office investigate alleged irregularities in the selling of land belonging to a state-owned plantation to Siti Hardijanti Rukmana, the eldest daughter of former president Soeharto.
Military
Separately, chief of the Wirabuana Regional Military Command Maj. Gen. Suadi Marasabessy was quoted by Antara as saying that public demands for governors and regents to resign could not be approved just like that.
"We should first study the demands, whether they really represent the whole community, or just a small group of people," said Suadi who oversees all provinces in Sulawesi.
"There should be due legal process," he said in Kendari, the capital of Southeast Sulawesi. "You can't think that because at a national level, demonstrations forced the (former) president (Soeharto) to resign, you can do it here."
The Armed Forces, he said, would support the campaign against corruption, collusion and nepotism as long as it was conducted in a constitutional manner and was supported by facts.
Meanwhile, it was reported that relatives of Governor Palaguna and regents in South Sulawesi had been transferred from various posts because they were thought to have obtained the posts through political and familial connections.
Among those affected were Andi Henny Bataramaya, a daughter of Palaguna; Andi Amelia Malik, daughter of the head of the provincial development planning agency; and Andi Abubakar Amir, son of the Bone regent.
Spokesman of the provincial administration, Baso Machmud, said the governor was committed to promoting reform throughout his administration.
Civil servants "who obtained their jobs through collusion, corruption and nepotism should gracefully resign before they are forced to do so, because we will be consistent in our campaign for reform," Palaguna was quoted by Antara as saying. (21/45/har/swe)