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Megawati addresses huge crowd in Central Java

Source
Kompas - March 26, 1997 (Slightly abridged)

Speaking to a huge crowd of about five thousand people, Megawati Sukarnoputri (the ousted leader of the PDI who has been excluded from contesting the elections on 29 May) said that the Executive Council of the PDI under her leadership would shortly be issuing an instruction on how to act in the run-up to the forthcoming general election.

Megawati and other PDI leaders from Jakarta were in Magelang to attend the marriage of the daughter of the local PDI leader.

Megawati supporters from all parts of Central Java arrived in hundreds of vehicles and mini-buses in a convoy stretching five kilometres, bringing traffic in and around Yogyakarta and Magelang to a standstill for five hours.

Megawati said many of her supporters had conveyed complaints to her about the uncertainty as to what they should do in the elections.

She was happy to be getting so much support for the struggle she had waged so far and asked all her supporters to be disciplined and maintain their self-respect. She urged her supporters not to act violently as this was against the constitution and principles of the party. She said repeatedly that if anyone acted in such a way, she would call for them to be arrested.

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