Walhi rejects appointment of new minister
JAKARTA (JP): About 30 activists from the Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi) staged a loud protest here yesterday rejecting the appointment of Panangian Siregar as the new environment minister.
In the protest held just before Panangian took over his ministerial post from Juwono Sudarsono, who became the new minister of education and culture, the activists accused the Indonesia Democratic Party (PDI) politician of "having his hands stained with blood from the July 27 incident".
"Panangian was chairman of the organizing committee of the Medan congress, the result of collusion between Soeharto's regime and Soerjadi... He is anti-democracy," one activist, Efendi Panjaitan, said.
The activists were referring to the PDI breakaway congress in June 1996 in Medan, North Sumatra, in which government-backed Soerjadi ousted Megawati Soekarnoputri from the party's leadership.
Megawati, however, refused to recognize the congress. Her supporters, in a sign of defiance, refused to relinquish the PDI headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro in Central Jakarta.
In the early hours of July 27, a group of men allied to Soerjadi forcefully took over the building in a bloody clash.
A mass riot ensued in the area, living five dead and dozens missing. Several buildings were also torched as a result.
"His hands are full of blood," activist, Chalid Muhammad, said.
"Jangan Cemari Lingkungan Hidup dengan Darah (Don't pollute the environment office with blood)," read one poster.
The protest forced a one-and-a-half-hour delay in the handover ceremony.
It resumed only after the well-respected Juwono Sudarsono invited activists into his office, saying he could understand their rejection of Panangian's appointment.
"It's OK to have a different point of view... but please show respect to me, let's be peaceful," he pleaded.
The activists later agreed to leave the office compound after voicing their strong rejection.
In his 15-minute acceptance speech, Panangian defended himself, claiming to be "a democratic man".
Panangian later told journalists that he had actually talked to and tried to convince Megawati to participate in the Medan congress before it was held.
"But they didn't want to join, so I decided to go myself," he said. "I would not have talked to them if I wasn't democratic".
Panangian blamed yesterday's protest on Haryanto Taslam, a PDI politician loyal to Megawati.
"I saw him commanding the protest from outside the office fence. He was behind this protest," Panangian charged.
"They should be proud to see a man from PDI in the present Cabinet, not against him," he told about 100 people attending the ceremony.
When journalists told him that the protesters were from Walhi, Panangian raised his voice saying: "Walhi should have no fault with the PDI."
When asked to comment on the protest, former environment minister Sarwono Kusumaatmadja -- who also attended the ceremony -- said: "It's understandable. It's just the fate he has to face for being in the Cabinet."
"But as a former member of the environment office, I'd rather wait and see whether he can perform... The rest, well that's Habibie's political problem," he said. (aan)