Jakarta – Indonesia's president pleaded with his country's wealthy elite Saturday not to flee abroad ahead of a landmark June 7 parliamentary election, which many fear will result in widespread violence.
President B.J. Habibie made his call a day after five men were killed when hundreds of supporters of rival Muslim-based political parties clashed on Java, Indonesia's main island.
The official Antara news agency quoted Central Java Gov. Mardiyanto's confirmation of five dead and six injured in Friday's clash.
Central Java police commander Maj. Gen. Nurfaizi said members of the National Awakening Party and the United Development Party fought each other Friday at Jepara, 600 kilometers southeast of the capital, Jakarta.
He told the privately owned SCTV network that violence broke out after the two parties held separate rallies. Nurfaizi, like many Indonesians, uses only one name.
Nurfaizi did not say how the victims were killed. At least 14 vehicles and two houses were burned. He made no mention of injuries. The town was calm Saturday, he said.
Indonesia is bracing for an upsurge in violence in ahead of the ballot, the first since the resignation of authoritarian President Suharto a year ago.
During his 32-year reign, political activity was strictly controlled and only three officially sanctioned parties were permitted to take part in elections.
This time 48 parties are to contest the ballot for a new legislature, which will later help select a president.
Suharto's successor, Habibie, has said the election will be the freest held in Indonesia since 1955.
Many observers say violence is inevitable. Even during the Suharto era, campaigning was marred by violence. Supporters of various parties often take part in massive rallies that are later followed by noisy street parades sometimes infiltrated by rivals.
Several political rallies have resulted in clashes in recent weeks. Airlines have reported heavy bookings for flights out of Indonesia in the lead-up to the ballot.
While Habibie made no direct mention of the type of people leaving, many of those who have left or who are planning to leave are members of Indonesia's Chinese Christian and Buddhist minority, who are often targeted during times of civil unrest in overwhelmingly Muslim Indonesia.
Some Chinese play a major role in Indonesia's economy and their wealth is resented by sections of the mainly poor indigenous majority.
The newspaper Kompas quoted tourist authorities in Hong Kong and Singapore on Saturday as saying that large numbers of Indonesian Chinese had entered both cities in recent weeks.
Habibie said Indonesia needed all its citizens to stay and take part in the ballot, which he said should be conducted in a "peaceful and calm atmosphere.
"It is not necessary for people to skip overseas at election time," he said in a speech at a Muslim school in Ciamis, about 200 kilometers southeast of Jakarta.
"I appeal to all Indonesian people to cast their votes at polling stations across the country. People should cast their votes without any pressure from anyone."