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.