Jakarta – Jakarta Military Commander Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin said yesterday that his forces would clamp down hard on any workers staging street demonstrations.
Although he made no direct reference to the planned march by the Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union (SBSI) tomorrow, Sjafrie said the military would foil labor protests and strikes that were politically motivated. "I have warned them several times already. If they continue, I will cripple them. Just wait and see," he told reporters.
Sjafrie said that 25,000 military personnel had been deployed in Jakarta to ensure public safety. "Anyone who wishes to disrupt security will confront my troops. I have given them orders to warn the protesters first, and then cripple them if they have to," he said.
Security in Jakarta has been noticeably strengthened since the weekend, with armed soldiers guarding government offices and major intersections. On Sunday, organizers of a massive labor rally decided to call off the event off after failing to secure the use of the Salemba campus from the University of Indonesia administrators.
SBSI chairman Muchtar Pakpahan remained defiant yesterday, saying that he would go ahead with his plan to mobilize 10,000 workers onto the streets in Jakarta tomorrow to press ahead with his demands for President B.J. Habibie to resign.
Pakpahan, who Habibie released from prison last month after being convicted of organizing a riotous labor protest in 1994, said he had scaled down the size of the crowd from the 100,000 originally planned due to "recent developments".
He promised a "peaceful orderly and non-violent" demonstration, which he said was intended to send signals to Habibie and House Speaker Harmoko to convene an extraordinary session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) as soon as possible to hand over power to a transitional government.
Asked about the possibility of violence breaking out Pakpahan said: "Experience has shown that if the security forces want a street demonstration to be peaceful, it will be peaceful." "I appeal to the military to secure the safety of demonstrators," he added. Pakpahan did not disclose the route which the protesters would take, but said the National Monument (Monas) park and the House of Representatives building would likely be included in the itinerary.
Pakpahan underscored the decision of an SBSI working conference last week to hold protests until Habibie resigns or holds a national reconciliation meeting. A national reconciliation gathering, he said, would be intended to bring peace to the nation It should involve all components of the nation; reform leaders, the government, students, the Armed Forces and other major organizations.
He suggested the inclusion of people who were victims of the politics of the old New Order of former president Soeharto. In addition to himself, Pakpahan said these were Sri Bintang Pamungkas, Budiman Sudjatmiko, Nur Hidayat, Jose Alexandre "Xanana Gusmao", Ali Sadikin, S.A.E Nababan, Abdurrahman Wahid and Megawati Soekarnoputri.
Such a meeting would precede an MPR extraordinary session which would elect a transitional president to organize general elections by June 1999 at the latest Pakpahan said.
"If our proposal is ignored we will continue and escalate our protests until Prof. Dr. B.J. Habibie resigns from the presidency. The people will then form a Reform MPR which will elect a transitional government," Pakpahan said. "To the people, we apologize if their lives are disrupted (by our action). Trust us that we're doing this for the sake of the unity of the republic... and for the welfare and prosperity of the people, " he said.
[On June 25, Sjafrie was replaced by Maj. Gen. Djadja Soeparman, a military commander in East Java and he will now take the post of adviser on national affairs to the armed forces chief of staff. Sjafrie was in command when police shot four students at the Trisakti university on May 12 - James Balowski.]