Rally in support of govt birthday present for Mega

Rally in support of govt birthday present for Mega

Tiarma Siboro and Zakki Hakim, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Worn out by over two weeks of boisterous antigovernment rallies,
President Megawati Soekarnoputri received a special gift on her
56th birthday on Thursday as hundreds of her supporters took to
the streets to pledge their allegiance to her.

Hundreds of members of the Indonesian Young Bulls (BMI), one
of the youth groups affiliated to the Indonesian Democratic Party
of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), staged a rally near Megawati's
residence on Jl Teuku Umar in Central Jakarta.

Wearing red shirts and singing Selamat Ulang Tahun (Happy
Birthday), the youths said their presence was not aimed at
intimidating antigovernment groups or sparking chaos.

"Ibu has ordered us to maintain peace during the event and
when we finish with this (Megawati's birthday celebration), we
are going to voluntarily disperse," Dodi Makmun Murod, a House of
Representatives legislator, who also chairs the BMI, said after a
meeting with the President.

Separately, hundreds of other PDI Perjuangan supporters held a
rally in front of the State Palace on Thursday in support of the
leadership of Megawati and Vice President Hamzah Haz. They said
their leadership was needed to help the country maintain
stability in the political, economic and security arenas.

Waving banners reading: "Defend the Megawati-Hamzah duo until
2004, and reject the establishment of a presidium", the crowd
called on all members of the political elite to fairly compete
during the 2004 general election instead of attempting to
establish a presidium to replace the current government.

Although the rally proceeded peacefully, hundreds of security
officers were deployed to maintain order.

Rallies against the government's multiple hikes in utility and
fuel prices have been hitting the capital and other major cities
across the country for almost three weeks. The protests continued
despite the government's decision to delay and reduce the hikes.

Separately, dozens of Islamic organizations criticized the
government for its lack of a sense of crisis. They said the
government should make corruption eradication its priority
agenda, rather than increasing prices.

"The governnment's reluctance to push ahead with corruption
cases is another crime that hurts the people," they said during a
joint press conference held at the offices of the Indonesian
Council of Ulemas (MUI) in Central Jakarta.

In a related development, six students, who are known as
leaders of the Greater Jakarta Student Executive Boards (BEM),
were officially named as criminal suspects by the police after
staging rallies near Megawati's residence on Wednesday. The
students, Rico Marbun, Fathul Nugroho and Fajar from the
University of Indonesia BEM; Ardi from the Indonesian Muslim
Students Action Association (KAMMI); and Sardi Effendi from the
Jakarta State University were charged with violating Article 218
of the Criminal Code (KUHP), and Law No. 9/1998 on the freedom to
organize and assemble.

Central Jakarta Police sent summonses to the students on
Thursday morning requiring them to show up at police headquarters
on Saturday morning for questioning. However, Fathul said that
they would continue with their antigovernment protests until the
government introduced more favorable economic policies.