Soerjadi's camp blocked by rivals

JAKARTA (JP): At least 60 pro-Soerjadi Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) members were blocked yesterday by pro-Megawati supporters at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport from boarding their flight to Palu, Central Sulawesi, to attend their party congress.

The incident prompted the delegation to take refuge at the city police headquarters.

Police sources said the pro-Soerjadi delegates arrived at the airport at about 4 a.m. in two buses.

Twelve supporters of ousted PDI chairwoman Megawati Soekarnoputri were awaiting their arrival at the airport's departure terminal and later prevented them from leaving the city, the sources said.

The delegation left the airport soon after on the same buses without any incident. Seeing that they were being followed by the pro-Megawati group, they ordered their drivers to take them to police headquarters to take refuge.

Police briefly detained the Megawati supporters after they followed the Soerjadi group into the headquarters compound on the grounds that they planned to create a disturbance.

The Megawati supporters were released an hour later after police cleared the matter between the two rival groups.

The two buses used by the Soerjadi delegation, which included party secretary-general Buttu Hutapea, were still at the headquarters as late as 1:30 p.m. yesterday.

One of the bus drivers, who asked for anonymity, told reporters that he had driven the bus from Jl. Denpasar, South Jakarta, to the airport, where the Megawati supporters were already waiting for their arrival.

"They were screaming and yelling, telling us to go. The passengers in my bus were scared, so we eventually headed back to town. Then I was asked to bring them to the city police," he said.

City police chief Maj. Gen. Noegroho Djajoesman confirmed yesterday that a group of Soerjadi supporters had sought police protection.

"As a law enforcer, I should give proper protection for anybody who needs it. But in this case, we tried to become a peacemaker," Noegroho said.

"We don't plan on taking any special action regarding this issue. I hope everything goes back to normal and I urge every party not to precipitate any fights," he added.

He said no physical clash had occurred since the police brokered a peaceful ending to the incident.

"After the incident happened, I summoned the Megawati supporters to clear things up. I told them that they couldn't do such things because the Soerjadi supporters also had rights."

The buses' owner, Farida, told reporters that she was shocked over the incident.

"They (Soerjadi supporters) were not the ones listed to use my buses. I was told my buses were to be used by a group of employees from PT Indocement.

"If I had known about this sooner, I would not have let the Soerjadi supporters rent them, because it's just too risky," she said. (edt/jun)