Violence taints protests near Soeharto residence
Violence taints protests near Soeharto residence
JAKARTA (JP): Violence marred protests against the
controversial fuel price hike and former president Soeharto on
Saturday.
One protest, held a few meters from the residence of Soeharto,
degenerated into a clash when some 500 protesters tried to break
through a cordon of police officers on Jl. Suwiryo in order to
reach Soeharto's residence on Jl. Cendana in Menteng, Central
Jakarta.
Two protesters suffered serious injuries in the clash. Police
identified the two as Edward, 24, a former student at Indonesian
Christian University who resides on Jl. Melati in East Bekasi,
and Aep Saifudin, 17, a high school graduate who is now a street
singer.
"Both suffered serious head injuries and slight facial
injuries," a source at the city police medical center said.
After releasing Pos Kota daily photographer Timyadi, who was
mistaken for a protester, police officers ordered reporters out
of the area.
Separately, Central Jakarta Police chief of operational
control Maj. Ricky F. Wakanno said six police officers, five of
them members of the elite Mobile Brigade, were wounded during the
clash on Jl. Suwiryo.
He accused students from the City Forum (Forkot) of provoking
the clash.
"They, especially those in the left-wing (Forkot), started to
provoke my officers by throwing stones and other objects at about
5:15 p.m. They also came prepared with sticks spiked with nails,"
he said.
"We brought two protesters to Jakarta Police Headquarters for
questioning," he added.
At about 3 p.m., some 150 students, mainly from the private
YAI University, gathered at Teuku Umar fountain near Jl. Suwiryo,
which leads to Jl. Cendana.
At one point, Ricky told his officers to put away their rattan
sticks and told students the police would escort two of the
protesters to Soeharto's residence to meet with the former
president as guests. This offer was rejected by the students.
At about 4:30 p.m., some 400 members of Forkot arrived at the
scene in 15 buses.
With some of the students carrying Molotov cocktails, the
protesters marched toward the police officers and attempted to
break through the cordon.
Police fired tear gas and the protesters immediately
dispersed, scattering in different directions.
In a separate protest, hundreds of students and workers
gathered in the House of Representatives compound on Jl. Gatot
Subroto in Central Jakarta at around 11 a.m. to demand the fuel
subsidy be maintained.
The government decided to delay the fuel price hike planned
for April 1 for an unlimited period of time.
"The government must cancel its plan to revoke the subsidy,"
an activist, Dita Indah Sari, told the protesters. She also
blamed the International Monetary Fund for forcing the Indonesian
government to cancel the subsidy.
The protesters also demanded a 100-percent hike in minimum
regional wages for low-ranking employees, soldiers and police
officers.
Outside of Jakarta, protests were held in cities across the
country on Saturday, mostly demanding the planned fuel and
electricity hikes be canceled, not merely postponed.
In Makassar, the capital of South Sulawesi, thousands of
students from several universities, including the Indonesian
Muslim University and Hasanuddin University, and members of the
Democratic People's Party (PRD) hit the streets, burning tires
and waving posters carrying slogans such as "Total removal of
fuel and electricity hikes" and "Delay of hike not enough".
In Lampung, some 200 protesters gathered at the Lampung branch
of Radio Republik Indonesia on Jl. Gatot Subroto in Pahoman,
Bandar Lampung. The protesters demanded the station allow them to
go on the air with their objections to the electricity rate and
fuel price hikes.
Similar protests were staged in the North Sumatra capital of
Medan, where hundreds of locals and students from Nomensen
University, North Sumatra Muhammadiyah University and the
Student-People Action Front expressed their objections to the
planned hike.
In Surabaya, about 200 students from the National Student
Institute for Democracy set up tents in Governor Soerjo Park,
where they demanded plans for the fuel and electricity hikes be
canceled.
Protests also were held in Bandung, West Java, by students
from the Bandung Student Front and National Democrat League,
along with the All-Indonesian Workers Association and Anti-
Fascist Front. According to rumors here, students will stage a
mass protest on Monday and Tuesday to protest the planned hikes.
In Yogyakarta, students from the Indonesian Muslim Student
Association gave speeches in front of Gadjah Mada University,
urging President Abdurrahman Wahid not to bow to foreign
interests in raising electricity rates and fuel prices.
(ylt/06/nvn/25/27/39/44/nur/edt)