Soerjadi ignores street protests against him

JAKARTA (JP): The government-recognized chief of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), Soerjadi, downplayed the mounting street demonstrations against him yesterday.

Soerjadi, who is also a deputy House Speaker, said the waves of hostile rallies would not affect his efforts to consolidate his leadership or the party's performance in next year's general election.

"Their action doesn't mean anything to us because they don't have the power to change anything," he said.

In a massive demonstration against his leadership Thursday, scores of PDI activists loyal to his rival, Megawati Soekarnoputri, locked the gates of his official residence, the building he is using as the new party headquarters.

Earlier in the morning, the Megawati supporters demonstrated at the House of Representatives, demanding Soerjadi resign from his post as the deputy House speaker from the PDI faction.

They also demanded that Soerjadi be arraigned for his alleged role in the takeover of the PDI office from Megawati's supporters on July 27. The raid sparked riots that left at least five people dead and five missing.

More than 100 Megawati supporters were detained for "resisting police orders" during the takeover, in which Soerjadi's activists were assisted by the government, according to the National Commission on Human Rights.

"Sealing my house does not mean that they can stop our consolidation program," Soerjadi said.

Soerjadi ousted Megawati in a government-backed congress in Medan, North Sumatra, in June. She claims she is still the party's legitimate party leader.

He said he did not believe Megawati, who retains popularity among the masses, would have any capability to disrupt the 1997 general election.

"I have experienced a lot of obstacles and challenges during my leadership. We were surrounded by problems during the 1992 general election, yet we managed to increase our number of seats in the House," he said.

Soerjadi was PDI chairman from 1988 to 1993 until he lost the post to Megawati.

City Police Chief Maj. Gen. Hamami Nata said yesterday that only the police have the authority to seal a house for legal reasons.

He said however that Megawati supporters' act of locking Soerjadi's entrance gate was not criminal.

Meanwhile, rejection of Soerjadi in the provinces remained strong. Yesterday, demonstrations against him broke out in Surabaya and Malang, East Java.

In Malang, East Java PDI chairman Dimmy Haryanto, a Soerjadi supporter, was forced to cancel a leadership meeting after realizing that scores of Megawati loyalists were out to disperse it.

The protesters combed hotels in the city in an unsuccessful bid to find Dimmy.

In Surabaya, the protesters locked Dimmy's office and threw the key to the office of the provincial sociopolitical affairs department at an official in a show of dismay at the government's stand in the PDI rift.

The chief of the local military command, Maj. Gen. Imam Utomo, said the authorities would not step in as long as the demonstrators did not resort to criminal acts.

"The police will move to arrest them if they turn criminal," he said.

Separately, Dimmy said he was worried that the demonstrations would affect the PDI's showing in next year's general election. (imn/25/pan).