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   URGENT APPEAL - A Jakarta  militia attacked the urban poor group, 28 March

   More picture - Here !!!!
   
   Around 400 men from a group called Forum Betawi Rempug (United Betawi Forum), a Jakarta  militia, armed with dagger, stone and wood attacked the urban poor group in front of the office of the National Commission of Human Rights in Jakarta last Thursday, 28 March 2002. Around 50 people from the urban poor group, women, children, and men, were injured, 20 of which injured badly. Around 5 children from age 5 - 12 and many women were  bleeding on their heads, trampled on, hit by stones, and stabbed. One becak driver got 16 stiches on his head, another one had to undergo a surgery from having blood clot on the back of his head. A lawyer of LBH APIK was injured on her head and was bleeding very badly. Six of the UPC activists were injured. Wardah Hafidz was choked and thrown to the ground, was about to be hit by a piece of wood when a becak driver saved her and he was hit twice instead. The sound system and get set that belong to the upc, a van, and the glass windows of the Commission office shattered. Many women lost their jewelry, wallet and money.

Around 400 hundred urban poor people, men, women and children, organised a peaceful dialog with the National Commission on Human Rights, National Commission on Women's Rights and National Commission on Children Rights on that day. The purpose of the dialog was to find ways to urge the Jakarta government to respect the court decision that they have to stop the violence against the urban poor of Jakarta. When the dialog was over and they were about to leave, the militia arrived in 9 minibuses, three open trucks and one van. They shouted that they looked for Wardah Hafidz, and immediately after assaulted the urban poor group. The group is the same militia group that attacked the UPC demonstration last 13 March 2002.

Please mobilize support and protest. I am afraid this is, again, a part of the big scenario of the military to cause riots in Jakarta, to prevent the urban poor from being strongly organised and to use upc and the urban poor as the shooting targets. Please help find ways to prevent this from happening.

In solidarity,                   

Wardah Hafidz

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                              Who is Sutiyoso ?  - Sutiyoso: Behind the smile

                                                                               Opinion and Editorial - April 02, 2002
                                                            Kornelius Purba, Staff Writer, The Jakarta Post

When President Megawati Soekarnoputri arrives from India at Halim Perdankusuma Airport on Friday, Jakarta Governor Lt. Gen. (ret.) Sutiyoso will likely be among the first in the row of senior officials standing near the presidential plane, to cheerfully greet her.

The President may then have received prior information about the pitiless beatings of women, and infants by a group of Sutiyoso's admirers, from the Betawi Brotherhood Forum (FBR) who were angered by the poor people's protests against their idol. The thug-looking men used force to disperse a group of protesters organized by the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC), who intended to convey their aspirations to the National Commission on Human Rights last week.

It is unlikely that the President would ask the governor about his fans' brutality. She may not realize either the coincidence that FBR chairman, Achmad Fadloli El Muhir chairs the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), the party which Megawati's camp split from following the violent assault on her headquarters on July 27, 1996 -- in which Sutiyoso, then Jakarta military commander, played a role behind the scenes, as he acknowledged to the police in an investigation.

As governor and former Jakarta military commander, Sutiyoso has routinely welcomed and seen off four presidents, including Soeharto and Abdurrahman Wahid, when they departed or returned from foreign trips, or even when they made a domestic tour. He was Megawati's broadly smiling host when she visited flood victims.

His brilliant approach of courtesy has apparently been quite fruitful; none of the presidents have expressed dissatisfaction of his performance, at least in public.

Soeharto promoted Sutiyoso as Jakarta governor in October 1997, reportedly as an expression of his gratitude for the success in the crackdown on Megawati's headquarters, when she was chairperson of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).

A few days after the riots which followed the 1996 attack on the PDI headquarters, Sutiyoso had said, "Orders to shoot on the spot will be issued if they (troublemakers) renew their efforts to disrupt peace and order at the expense of the general interest of the public." Many of Megawati's supporters were among those "troublemakers."

Despite Sutiyoso's security assurance the military had brutally dispersed a free speech forum before the tragedy at PDI headquarters on Jl. Diponegoro, Central Jakarta, dozens were killed.

The PDI tragedy itself remains a mystery and it seems that Megawati has decided to forget the violence although she knows that she owes the victims who played a pivotal role in skyrocketing her name to the presidential seat. Her position as chairperson of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) is inseparable from their sacrifice. The victims want her to enforce the law against those who are responsible for their misery, including Sutiyoso.

In Makassar, South Sulawesi, Megawati recently expressed her satisfaction that she was able to win seven of her total 200 lawsuits against Soeharto's government and the military. After the riots she filed lawsuits across the country's district courts to strive for recognition as PDI leader. As none of her legal victories were significant, the question now is whether she is satisfied because she can win less than 3 percent of the litigations, or because she has been able to reach the country's highest position?

Many of the victims have protested Megawati's silence. She even moved the headquarters of her PDI camp, later named PDI Perjuangan, to other places and abandoned the historic office on Jl. Diponegoro office.

As governor, Sutiyoso can neither wash his hands of the impact of the May riots in Jakarta which forced Soeharto to end his 32-year dictatorship.

The President may have her own plans regarding the governor, who will complete his five-year term in October. Sutiyoso clearly still wants to stay longer as governor. But what he has done for Jakarta? He cannot even resolve garbage problems.

The President must learn from her father Sukarno. Realizing the chaos of the capital, then president Sukarno appointed Maj. Gen. (Marine) Ali Sadikin as governor in 1966. Ali, who held the position for 11 years, is still regarded as the father of Jakarta development and its most successful governor despite his iron-fist style.

After that, all five of Ali's successors came from military. While all Soeharto's successors are civilians, isn't it ridiculous that the next Jakarta governor still comes from the military?

The chaotic Jakarta needs a strong leader. Megawati's party, PDI Perjuangan, has the biggest seat in the City Council and would have the final say on the governorship. But we must also remember that it was the party, despite public protests, which endorsed the reelection of Maj.Gen. Waluyo as City Council speaker in 1999. Will the party repeat a similar move for Sutiyoso?

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