|
Tension High Over Possible Civil Emergency in Indonesia
By Kazi Mahmood
JAKARTA, July 19 (IslamOnline) - Indonesian Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri on Thursday rejected an offer of compromise from the presidency, sending another sign of distress among citizens in Jakarta.
The mega-city, divided into five main sectors, fears renewed pro- and anti-Wahid protests, teargas and military police presence on the roads.
Jakarta's city police also fear violence from a series of bomb threats, coupled with possible arson attacks, as well as attacks on the premises and members of parties in Parliament involved in plans to ouster Wahid.
Residents of Jakarta Pusat (Central Jakarta), businessmen and tourists in the city said they were apprehensive of the coming "clash of the titans" when the Parliament (MPR) will hold its much-awaited special session on August 1st.
The recent evasion of a suspect in the bombing of the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JXE); rumors that Tommy Mandala Putra, the son of former President Suharto being in Jakarta; and the threats from Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) suicide gangs to eliminate opposition leaders, are being taken seriously in the city.
Officials linked to opposition parties said they fear an outburst of violence before the MPR session, which could give reasons for Wahid to proceed with threats to impose a civil emergency.
Several editorial write-ups in local newspapers showed the apprehension of locals on the eve of the civil emergency threats. The stock exchange did not take a beating as of yet, but the currency, the Rupiah, is still floating in the negative and might nosedive further.
Economic activities in the city of 12 million will probably suffer glitches, and people might not send their children to school as a measure of protection, and some might be absent from work altogether given the uncertainties existing in Jakarta these days.
One community that has decided to take extra precautions is the local Chinese, who engage in several business activities, many of whom are professionals working for huge corporations.
They have tickets ready to fly out of the city in case of emergency, and many have already asked for a long weekend off, driving or boarding trains to reach other safe areas of the country.
The most popular word in the streets of the immense city is "darurat", meaning civil emergency. It is on the lips of people aged 7 to 77, one shopkeeper said.
The city is divided into pro- and anti-Wahid factions. Pro-NU students and workers are generally supportive of the president and wish that the MPR delay the special session.
Many of them, however, are also "tired" of the president's continued "blabbing" and failure to rally the masses and get the country moving on the economic front.
They say they would prefer Wahid to go gracefully and try his chances at the presidency in 2004. They say the ailing and embattled president should give priority to the country, not to his own personal ego.
Yet diehard Wahid supporters are visibly getting ready for a major showdown. They have banners, paints and other gimmicks ready for mass demonstrations in the city.
Many of them are prepared to face police barricades that will be raised around the parliament house and Presidential palace at Merdeka Center. Their stated intentions are simply to show the support fro Wahid while the MPR deliberates.
Some of them said they would be very happy to see a huge crowd of Wahid supporters in the city on the eve of August 1st, adding that a show of support by thousands of people may, at this late stage, still crack the MPR.
Their only glimmer of hope, however, resides in the Golkar and PPP parties, whose chiefs, Akbar Tandjung and Hamza Haz, respectfully, have had secret talks with the President and his closest associates recently.
Wahid, drawing support from several wealthy Arab Indonesians in the capital city, is confident the two leaders will vote against the no-confidence motion, or will simply abstain.
These two formations, the Golkar and the PPP, control, along with Wahid's party, the PKB, almost half of the parliamentary seats. Hopes are high these three parties will find an arrangement that will help Wahid remain in power until 2004.
In the meantime, city dwellers are becoming wearier of possible outbreaks of violence around town, suspecting the police and the military may not interfere in the conflict despite assurances that they support Megawati Sukarnoputri.
|
