Sampang – At least 11 United Development Party (PPP) supporters were wounded when shot by the military during a riot which occurred in the villages of Sampang and Pemekasan, Madura. The masses emotions rose because they were prevented from voting last May 29. Polling station officials refused thousands of fanatic PPP supporters on the grounds that they did not have a C card which functions as an invitation [to vote]. The thousands of people who arrived were soon angered because they already held official yellow cards voting cards.
Dissatisfied with being rejected, thousands of people at a number of villages went to the offices of the local village heads. The village offices said that it had been determined by the ward offices (Camat). They then went to the ward offices to ask why they had not been given a C card. However government officials could not give an answer. The masses armed with sickles, knives and clubs destroyed the government offices.
Because it was already afternoon and they had still not been able to vote, thousands of people went to the city centre heading for the Sampang Regent's offices. Thousands of PPP supporters easily controlled the city, damaging and burning government offices, the Kedungdung police headquarters and the Sampang Golkar offices. They also destroyed houses of local Golkar supporters and sized ballot boxes.
By that night, thousands of people were in control of the city and roads leading to Pendopo. The Sampang Regent, H Fadhilah Budiono and his family were evacuated to the Sampang police headquarters. It was not until almost midnight, that with the help of East Java troops, that the situation in Sampang was restored.
Although the city was under control, the masses were still able to destroy a bridge joining Kedungdung and Tambelangan.
At the same time in Omben the masses were about to move off to Sampang because they had heard news that the child of a Kiai (Islamic Teacher), Alawy Mohammad, a Nahdlatul Ulama (Association of Muslim Scholars, NU) figure, a PPP leader and guardian of the Attaroqi Pesantren (Islamic School), had been shot dead by the military. The masses delayed moving off because they were prevented by Kiai Alawy.
Aside from Sampang, riots also occurred in Pamekasan. The Pegantenan and Pamekasan police headquarters were destroyed and set afire by the masses. In a number of places thousands of determined masses ran away with ballot boxes. In many places the people were angry because at a number of polling stations where thousands of fanatic PPP supporters had voted, when the votes were counted Golkar swept to victory. Furthermore, there were a number of civil servants who while taking ballot boxes to the ward offices [for counting]'stopped of at their homes. In a number of places, the people were able to catch civil servants read handed as they swapped PPP votes with Golkar votes. The were people who found destroyed ballot papers in civil servants houses, those who should have been safeguarding the elections.
In East Java, the Selomukti village polling station, in the Mlandingan ward, Situbondo, was burnt down by the masses. The masses who totaled around a thousand people then set fire to the house of the Selomukti village head. On Friday (30/5) or the day after voting, Surabaya was shaken by news of a bomb and attacks on public places. Because of this panzers and thousands of troops were deployed. Similar news shook Medan, North Sumatra several days before the elections.
In Ciputat, Jakarta, a petrol bomb was thrown at a polling station by an unknown person riding a car on the night before the elections. The polling booth's awning was burnt and police were deployed around the area but did not pursue the culprit.
On the election day, a Bank Rakyat Indonesia building in Kota (North Jakarta) was burnt. The fire destroyed the third floor and four buildings are not being used as of today. According to a SiaR source, the building was intentionally burnt to give the impression that there was an extremist group who were trying to disrupt the elections by means of terror and violence. The aim was to attract peoples attention so that they would be sympathetic to the government. The SiaR source said that the floor which was burnt was already empty and [its contents/function] moved to a new building.
Riots also occurred at the same time in East Timor. In Lautem, Baucau and Ermera, Fretilin guerrillas attacked polling stations and killed a number of soldiers and civilians. Two Dili mobile patrol officers were also killed in an attack on the mobile brigade headquarters in Bairopote, Dili. 13 Temorese died in these incidents shot dead by the military.
[Slightly abridged translation by James Balowski]