Thousands demand Gus Dur resign

Thousands demand Gus Dur resign

JAKARTA (JP): No bullets or tear gas were fired when more than
10,000 protesters, mostly students, besieged Merdeka Palace on
Monday, intensifying the pressure on President Abdurrahman Wahid
to resign.

Rallies against the President also took place in several towns
across the country, but the students' call for a national strike
did not materialize.

The demonstration, which began peacefully, was marred by
violence when a group of students attacked Atma Jaya University
campus on their way to the House of Representatives after dusk. A
car was set ablaze and at least 10 other cars and six motorcycles
were damaged during the violence.

Although there was no official report of injuries, several
people, including a Jawa Pos photographer, were beaten according
to witnesses.

Chanting anti-Abdurrahman statements around the tightly-
guarded palace, the protesters, who started gathering at around
10 a.m., handed out leaflets calling for a national strike and
the President's resignation.

Abdurrahman was presiding over a Cabinet meeting when the
rally took place.

The rally blocked traffic trying to access the palace, while
the city's main thoroughfares were almost brought to a total
standstill.

Against the odds, a tiny group of people, including Nahdlatul
Ulama (NU) youth wing Ansor activists, held a prayer in support
of the President, who chaired the country's largest Muslim
organization for 15 years before being elected as president in
October 1999.

The deployment of 3,000 police and military troops and the
deployment of barbed wire barricades at the palace did little to
separate both pro and anti-Abdurrahman supporters and deter them
from throwing rocks at each other.

Tense moments passed after members of both camps formed a
human barricade to avoid further provocation.

City Military Commander Maj. Gen. Bibit Waluyo, who stood
guard at the scene, said that there were several damaging rumors
circulating in the masses.

"I am here ... to help police secure this place," Bibit said
without specifying the rumors.

Jakarta Police Chief Insp. Gen. Mulyono Sulaiman was also seen
at the scene.

Expressing their immense dislike for the President, popularly
known as Gus Dur, members of the Student Executive Body (BEM)
representing various universities in Java and Sumatra also
demanded that the former ruling party Golkar be disbanded.

"Don't you know that Gus Dur is the best student of former
president Soeharto?" one BEM protester said.

Three student representatives were finally given an audience
with Minister of Justice and Human Rights Baharuddin Lopa;
Coordinating Minister for Political, Social and Security Affairs
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono; Minister of National Education Yahya
Muhaimin; and Minister of Home Affairs and Regional Autonomy
Surjadi Soedirdja.

The students were Taufik Riyadi, who chairs BEM at the state
University of Indonesia, and his counterparts at the state
Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) and private Trisakti
University, Sigit Prasetyo and Andre Rosiade respectively.

Andre told The Jakarta Post that during the 30-minute meeting,
the student leaders demanded that Gus Dur resign and his Cabinet
be dissolved.

"The ministers promised us that they would convey our demands
to the President. We demanded that the ministers leave the
Cabinet and join us instead," a dejected Andre said.

"They refused without any clear explanation, except that all
things should be done constitutionally."

Apart from BEM activists, the protesters included Muhammadiyah
United Students Front (Kammu), labor groups Gaspermindo and the
Association of Indonesian Muslim Workers (PPMI), and members of
the Ka'abah Youth Movement (GPK), all demanding that Gus Dur
resign.

The masses traded verbal insults with Gus Dur supporters, who
included students from Bung Karno University and the State
Islamic Institute (IAIN).

The demonstration kept the President and ministers in the Bina
Graha presidential office compound, until they secretly departed
after most of the students dispersed.

People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien Rais led a
group of legislative leaders from all factions, who joined the
rally after a group of students fetched them, except those of the
National Awakening Party and Indonesian Military and National
Police.

Amien, who spoke from his bus, told the students that the MPR
could no longer tolerate Abdurrahman remaining in office and
would consider an accelerated process to impeach the President
over his failure to uphold the reform agenda.

Joining Amien were Sutjipto, MPR deputy speaker from the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle; Fachmi Idris, secretary
of the Golkar faction at the Assembly; Syamsul Muarif, chairman
of the Golkar faction at the House; Ali Marwan Hanan, chairman of
the United Development Party (PPP) faction; Hatta Radjasa,
chairman of the reform faction; and Fuad Bawazier, a regional
legislature representative.

The clash at Atma Jaya University was reportedly sparked by
rumors that a BEM activist from UI was abducted while passing the
campus, which is situated near the Semanggi cloverleaf. But an
Atma Jaya student, Dony, said a group of protesters provoked the
brawl with statements criticizing Atma Jaya's absence from the
rally.

Some 500 students were allowed to rest at the House compound,
where 50 of them held talks with Amien at around 9 p.m.

With more anti-Abdurrahman rallies almost certain to take
place, Ansor Youth secretary-general Abdul Naim Salim said there
would be no single force that could prevent the organization's
members from streaming into the capital to protect Gus Dur.

"If the situation is unchanged, we cannot guarantee that Ansor
members will not flock to Jakarta. But they will only come as
individuals," Naim told The Jakarta Post. (ylt/dja/01)