Victims of July 27 attack plan street rallies

Victims of July 27 attack plan street rallies

Bambang Nurbianto and Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Didi Purwanto, 32, knew the consequences of supporting
Megawati Soekarnoputri, who was the main enemy of the New Order
under former authoritarian president Soeharto. He even braved the
attack against her party's headquarters, the then Indonesian
Democratic Party (PDI) on July 27, 1996.

Following the attack, he along with 123 other staunch
supporters of Megawati were arrested and detained without due
legal process. He was detained for more than a month under police
custody and about four months in Salemba penitentiary.

They have been seeking justice for nearly six years following
the incident, which was allegedly masterminded by the military
and police.

They were optimistic that justice would be served when their
idol Megawati finally became president last July 23. But to their
disappointment, the President did not seriously pursue the case.

Their disappointment reached its peak when Megawati as
chairwoman of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI
Perjuangan) decided to name Governor Sutiyoso, a former Jakarta
military commander suspected of orchestrating the attack on PDI
headquarters, as the party's candidate for the next gubernatorial
election.

She signed a recommendation letter instructing all PDI
Perjuangan faction members at the City Council to elect Sutiyoso
as the next Jakarta governor.

"We -- the victims of the July 27 incident -- cannot accept
Sutiyoso's nomination whatever the reason may be," Didi, who is
now a coordinator of the Communication Forum for the July 27,
1996 incident, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

He said Sutiyoso was clearly one of those responsible for the
attack.

"We'll commemorate the July 27 incident with various actions
including street rallies, a movie screening and speeches," he
said.

The plan has received support from a number of youth and
student organizations like the Alliance of Jakarta Student
Executive Bodies (BEM Jakarta), the Student Action Front (FAM),
Student Action Front for Reform and Democracy (Famred).

According to Didi, representatives of regional chapters of PDI
Perjungan from Bali, West Java, Lampung, and East Kalimantan will
take part in the activities to be held on July 26 and July 27.

"The climax of the actions will be organized on Jl Diponegoro
58 at 1 p.m. on July 27. There will be speeches there and we will
hold a march from Diponegoro to Megawati's official residence on
Jl. Teuku Umar," Didi said.

Separately, Sardi Effendi, coordinator of BEM Jakarta
confirmed its participation in the July 27 event, saying that
some 500 students from various universities would join the
activities.

According to Didi, Megawati has lost her sensitivity by
ignoring the feelings of her own supporters about the incident.
Didi was one of some 300 people who were at the PDI office when
the attack occurred.

The July 27 incident occurred when Soeharto's patience
snapped, as the PDI headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro 58 was used as
a forum for free speech by opposition leaders to criticize his
administration.

The attack was held by supporters of Soerjadi, Megawati's
opponent in the party who received full support from police and
military personnel.

Megawati was ousted as party chairwoman at the government-
backed party congress in the North Sumatra capital of Medan in
early 1996.

Megawati, who was elected in 1993 at the party congress in the
East Java capital of Surabaya, was replaced by Soerjadi, the pro-
government veteran politician in the 1996 congress.

Her supporters, however, refused to recognize Soerjadi's
election and defended the party's headquarters as their base.

A number of former military and police officials have been
questioned over the incident. They include former military chief
(ret) Gen. Feisal Tanjung, chief of military sociopolitical
affairs Syarwan Hamid, and city police chief Maj. Gen. Hamami
Nata.

So far, there has been no clear result of the investigation
into the incident. But Sutiyoso earlier claimed that the
Indonesian Military (TNI) had made a peace deal with the victims
of the tragedy.