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)