Students attack Golkar office in C. Jakarta

Students attack Golkar office in C. Jakarta

JAKARTA (JP): Some 500 students from various groups attacked
Golkar Party's city chapter office on Jl. Cikini, Central Jakarta
on Friday evening, throwing at least five molotov cocktails at
the office.

Dozens of police officers dispersed the crowd by firing tear
gas, beating and arresting seven students. The students, who are
still unidentified, were taken to the nearby Menteng Police
subprecinct.

At least 10 students were injured after being beaten by police
officers.

Half of them were being treated at the Cipto Mangunkusumo
General Hospital's intensive care unit while the remaining half
were being treated at the St. Carolus hospital for head and other
injuries.

The students marched from the nearby Proclamation Statue and
arrived at the scene at about 5 p.m., yelling demands for the
dissolution of the former ruling party.

The students called themselves the Golkar Dissolution Alliance
(ABG) grouped from various organizations, including the City
Forum (Forkot), the Collective Forum (Forbes), The University of
Indonesia's Student Action Forum (FAM UI), and the National
Student League for Democracy (LMND).

They demanded the dissolution of the party since it was
considered as the political machine of the New Order regime under
former president Soeharto.

"Dissolve Golkar now," shouted the students.

The students also accused, the House of Representatives and
the People's Consultative Assembly of cheating the people.

Due to the rally, streets around Cikini area were closed to
traffic.

The rally turned violent as the students started to approach
the office and throw molotov cocktails. In return, police fired
tear gas.

Police officers, who had been standing guard at the office
prior to the students' arrival, dispersed the students and chased
them until the nearby Megaria area, near the office of the
Jakarta Legal Aid Institute.

No damage to the office was reported after the rally. The
situation returned to normal at 8 p.m.

Golkar Cikini's office frequently becomes the target of
student rallies. The same groups also staged a similar rally at
the site on Thursday.

In a related development, the National Police Detectives Chief
Insp. Gen. Engkesman Hilep said the police are still studying the
alleged misuse of Rp 90 billion of funds belonging to the State
Logistic Agency (Bulog) by Golkar Party.

"We are still studying it. We cannot base our investigation
only on rumors in the absense of solid data," Engkesman said.

Separately, the newly installed National Police Spokesman
Brig. Gen. Didi Widajadi said the police would not hesitate to
investigate the party if there is strong evidence to prove the
case.

"We will act according to the existing law," Didi who was
officially installed as spokesman on Friday, said.

Minister of Defense Mahfud MD had earlier revealed that Golkar
used the fund to finance the party during the 1999 general
election campaign.

Police said on Thursday that they might question the party's
chairman Akbar Tandjung who is also the House' Speaker, over an
alleged land scam. (jun)