Yogi Arif/Swastika & LM, Jakarta – While some 100 demonstrators gathered at the Jakarta provincial parliament building demanding the members reject the annual accountability speech of Jakarta Governor Sutiyoso, over 1,000 pedicab drivers gathered at the Jakarta City Court demanding they be allowed to operate in the city. The bottomline: Govenor Sutiyoso, named a suspect in one of the hottest cases under investigation, is coming under unprecedented pressure. Arriving at 10am today, the demonstrators occupied not only the building but also Kebon Sirih St. where the building is located.
While Sutiyoso has been accused of corruption collusion and nepotism, the majority of demonstrators today were protesting because of his alledged involvement in the brutal raid on the offices of the Indonesian Democratic Party on 27 July 1996.
Sutiyoso was the Jakarta Military Area Commander when thugs backed by the local security forces stormed the party headquarters where supporters of Megawati Sukarnoputri, then leader of the party and currently Vice President, were holed up. Megawati had been "ousted" from the PDI leadership in an internal party coup supported by the New Order government of former President Suharto. Sutiyoso was named a suspect in the case on 22 June.
The accountability speech is a hot issue this year because acceptance of the speech indicates the parliament's passivity and lack of political will in tackling the issues closet to the people's hearts. "If the parliament accept Sutiyoso's annual accountability speech, we will occupy the provincial parliament building on the upcoming anniversary of 27 July," said Gatot, one of the protesters. They also collected signatures demanding Sutiyoso be put on trial for his responsibility in the 27 July incident on a long white banner.
The speech was actually read on 5 June but the parliament has postponed passing judgement. In the speech, Sutiyoso claimed he had made much progress in developing the city of Jakarta. "But we found out that we didn't get sufficient support from the legislature," Sutiyoso said.
While the "27 July" protesters were making there presence felt on Kebon Sirih St., around 1,000 pedicab (becak) drivers and an armada of 200 pedicabs gathered at the Jakarta City Court. The protesters, organised by the Urban Poor Consortium, blocked traffic on Gajah Mada St. and surrounding streets.
The pedicab drivers launched a class action against the Jakarta government after the decision to allow pedicab drivers to operate in the city, taken in 1998, was withdrawn just one week later.
Representing the Jakarta government, Alexon Tambunan, asked that the hearing be postponed till next Monday to hear witnesses and review evidence. The presiding judge, M Sudjono SH, agreed, to the ire of the 600 drivers in the court.
They protested loudly, particularly because the session was the 13th in what has become, in their opinion, an excessively drawn out and frustrating legal process with no end in sight.