Violence reigns ahead of election day

Violence reigns ahead of election day

JAKARTA (JP): Police proved their early warning of
intensifying violence ahead of Monday's elections worth listening
to on Wednesday.

While Yogyakarta remained tense following a recurred clash
between supporters of United Development Party (PPP) and
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), a fresh
brawl involving sympathizers of the two parties and the national
Mandate Party (PAN) flared up in the Central Java border town of
Klaten on Wednesday.

In Ambon, Maluku, religious conflicts resurfaced before and
after a Muslim-based PPP campaign, with the party supporters
pelting public transportation vehicles believed to carry
Christians and vice versa.

Campaigning in the capital and the country's second largest
city Surabaya was undisturbed with no acts of violence but
traffic congestions.

National Police chief Gen. Roesmanhadi said Tuesday the final
round of campaigns, which started on Monday, would be vulnerable
to unrest because all the 48 contesting parties would be
stretched to the limit in high spirit to win people's hearts.

Police also revealed that 174 people had died in clashes and
traffic accidents during street rallies since the campaign season
kicked off on May 19.

At least five people suffered severe stab wounds and 15 others
were slightly injured in separate clashes in Klaten on Wednesday.
One of them, 16-year-old Daryanto, was still in a coma after his
neck was stabbed.

Deputy head of the local PAN branch, Fahrudin, said Daryanto,
a junior high school student, was attacked by PPP supporters
while he was playing soccer in a pitch near his home in Puluhan
village.

"Today's clash must have something to do with the previous
incident between supporters of PAN and PPP on Saturday," Fahrudin
said.

Daryanto was being treated at Islamic Hospital along with his
friend Wawan, 14, and Megel villagers Alfian, 19, Safrudin, 30,
and Saifullah, 27.

Following a campaign rally in Pedan district, PPP supporters
were split into several groups of convoys. Clashes erupted in
Megel, Kurung, touted as a PDI Perjuangan stronghold, Puluhan,
Tempursari and Ngaran villages. At least 17 houses in the
villages were attacked.

Police fired three warning shots to disperse PPP supporters
who tried to force their way to Tempursari village, which PAN
claimed to be one of its strongholds in the regency.

Klaten police chief Lt. Col. Mustofa Hari Kuncoro was not
available for comment.

In Yogyakarta, hundreds of PDI Perjuangan supporters attacked
a command post belonging to PPP on Jl. Wachid Hasyim in
retaliation to overnight clashes that injured six people, mostly
PDI Perjuangan sympathizers.

Angry PPP supporters took revenge by pelting the house of PDI
Perjuangan activist, Acun Hadiwijoyo, in Notoprajan subdistrict
near Jl. Wachid Hasyim.

Riot police, who were deployed to restore order, fired several
warning shots, but resorted to shooting at the warring mobs after
they ignored the warning. A PPP supporter, Istanto, 18, was shot
with a rubber bullet to his thigh. He was rushed to nearby PKU
Muhammadiyah Hospital.

As of Wednesday night, leaders of the conflicting parties were
negotiating a peaceful settlement.

Delight

In Jakarta, PAN chairman Amien Rais delighted hundreds of
thousands of party supporters who flocked the city's
thoroughfares on Wednesday in its last campaign.

Main streets of Jl. Sudirman and Jl. Thamrin changed into a
sea of blue, the color of the party, as the supporters from the
city's five mayoralties flooded the streets and lingered at the
Hotel Indonesia traffic circle in Central Jakarta.

Boarding three choppers, Amien and his entourage, who included
journalists, visited seven campaign sites in the neighboring West
Java towns of Bogor, Depok, Tangerang and Bekasi earlier in the
day.

Speaking at Pulomas horse racing course in East Jakarta, Amien
asked at least 10,000 supporters to flock the streets after his
speech ended.

"I will talk only in three minutes. Let's change Jakarta into
blue. Let's go to the city's center... ," Amien told the
supporters in a husky voice.

Thousands of supporters of Justice Party, Crescent Star Party
(PBB) and Republican Party mingled with their PAN counterparts at
the roundabout near Hotel Indonesia (HI) in the capital's heart.

PBB chairman Yusril Ihza Mahendra joined a parade along Jl.
Jendral Sudirman on an open-roof Volkswagen Safari at midday. The
presidential candidate waved his hands to the crowds and headed
to the HI circle before making a 10-minute oration.

In Surabaya, 85 legislative candidates representing PAN
introduced themselves to the public by delivering speeches in the
city's streets.

Wearing the party's blue uniforms, the candidates spread
brochures which stated their curriculum vitae.

Back in Jakarta, Minister of Information Muhammad Yunus
announced that President B.J. Habibie would in the near future
issue a decree declaring the election day on Monday a national
holiday. (23/44/swa/jun/ind)