Rallies target corrupt officials

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)