Thousands to demonstrate for Riau islands province

Thousands to demonstrate for Riau islands province

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Social and economic activities in four islands in Riau is
expected to lay down on Thursday when thousands of people take to
the streets in the biggest rallies ever, to demand for a separate
province.

The Preparatory Committee for the Establishment of Riau Island
Province has issued circulars suggesting that shops and other
business centers, food stalls, government offices and other
institutions in Batam, Natuna, Karimun and Tanjungpinang islands
come to a halt during the rallies.

"It is feared that certain people will take advantage of the
rallies with vandalism, looting and other violent acts," the
circular said.

The committee also called on people to keep peace and order
intact during the rallies, which are aimed at mounting pressure
on the House of Representatives to approve their demand.

People in the islands were seen bracing for the rallies by
parading banners along the thoroughfares of their towns, which
stated their demand for immediate establishment of a separate
province from the Riau mainland.

The banners, some of them over 15 meters in length, were
mostly found in the main business areas, Antara reported.

"God willing, the new province of Riau Islands will soon be
born," one of the banners said. Another banner says: "Never mind
a province, we shall strive for a new state."

The people will take to the streets on Thursday to renew their
demand for a separate province. Some of them have planned to
dispose of public objects which have become the symbols of the
Riau province.

In Tanjungpinang, a local figure, Supriyadi Parengrengi, said
pro-new province residents would burn effigies of Governor Saleh
Djasit, the provincial legislature speaker Chaidir and his deputy
Wan Abubakar and a member of the Riau regional autonomy oversight
board Tabrani Rab.

"Those effigies will be burnt down simultaneously to express
our anger to their discouragement of our demand," Supriyadi, who
calls himself the commander of Riau Islands Province Defenders,
said recently.

He warned that Jakarta's failure to heed the May 2 rally would
only heighten tension in the islands, which could lead to
anarchic moves, including the closure of all accesses to the
island and blockade of government institutions there.

Chairman of the Preparatory Committee of Riau Islands Province
Huzrin Hood has set a May 13 deadline for the House to arrange a
plenary session to approve the bill on the new province. The
House will resume its sitting period on that date.

If the House fails to meet the deadline, Huzrin said he would
resign.

The House formed a special committee to draft a bill on the
formation of Riau islands province. The committee approved the
bill late in January, but has yet to propose a plenary House
session to endorse the bill.

Chairman of the committee, Handjojo Putro of the Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle said the establishment of the new
province did not need approval from Riau governor or the
province's legislature.

A group of former kings in Riau issued a joint statement on
Jan. 28, opposing the plan to form the new province. They said
the plan carried political interests of certain people, and
defied both the law and long-standing Malay customs.