Soldiers on dead alert

Soldiers on dead alert

JAKARTA: Troops jealously guarding vital government offices
around the National Monument stopped a funeral procession, which
they mistook for a Golkar rally because the mourners carried
yellow flags.

A brief argument occurred before the mourners could convince
the soldiers that the coffin contained a real corpse and they
were not student demonstrators protesting controversial
government policies.

"We are not demonstrating, Sir. Just look at what is inside
the coffin," a relative of the deceased told the riot troops.

The procession was on the way from the Hayam Wuruk area near
the Bina Graha presidential office to Tanah Kusir Cemetery in
South Jakarta when the alert soldiers stopped it.

In a show of sympathy, the soldiers were kind enough to use
one of their armored vehicles parked near the defense ministry to
escort the funeral procession through the traffic in the area,
Antara reported.

Apparently, good luck was with the deceased along the way.
When the procession confronted an unruly United Development Party
street rally, the party supporters stopped and gave way to it.
(pan)