Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, Jakarta – Following an attack on the office of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) by the Pemuda Panca Marga (PPM) group last week, about 20 of the group's members paid a visit to the Tempo news magazine office on Wednesday to protest the way the weekly described the nationalistic group.

Clad in fatigues, the young members of the group threatened to repeat the same act they carried out at the Kontras office, while several members banged their fists on a table in a meeting with Tempo officials, according to the weekly's managing editor, Wahyu Muryadi. But they staged their protest "in a polite and orderly fashion", Wahyu added.

The group was protesting an opinion article from the June 2 to June 8 edition of the news magazine, titled Terror on Kontras. The article implied that the attackers were "of a lesser dignity", and described them as a "gang" and "children of former soldiers" in other parts. "We listened to their complaints and offered them the right to respond to the article and we will publish it in the readers' letters section," Wahyu said.

Even though they claimed that their dispute with Tempo had been cleared up, members of PPM filed a complaint at the Central Jakarta Police station against the weekly, alleging defamation.

Yoga Santoso, one of the PPM chairmen who led the protest, said their purpose for visiting the Tempo office building on Jl. Proklamasi, Central Jakarta, was to exercise their right to respond and prove that they were not "of a lesser dignity".

"Moreover, our fathers are retired soldiers, not deserters. We are intellectuals, although some of us don't have a high education because our fathers are not rich men. We're not a gang, and PPM is a legal organization so we're entitled to wear a uniform," he added.

PPM is the youth arm of the Indonesian Veteran Legion (VLRI). About 100 of its members attacked the Kontras office on Jl. Cisadane in Central Jakarta, hit the activists and vandalized the building on May 27 due to Kontras' stance on supporting peace for Aceh, which has been put under martial law.