Jakarta – Indonesian Vice President Megawati Sukarnoputri Sunday told 100,000 supporters of her Indonesian Democracy Party- Struggle (PDIP) that national unity was at stake and called on them to defend its integrity, but without violence.
"PDIP should consolidate the party, to continue and safeguard the purity of reforms and prevent the disintegration of the nation and the state," Megawati said at a mass gathering to commemorate the party's 28th anniversary at the Senayan main sports stadium.
"There is one fundamental thing that should always be remembered and upheld together, that the unity of the state and the nation stands above all," she said.
Since the fall of the iron-fisted government of former president Suharto in May 1998, Indonesia has been experiencing rising separatism and communal violence in several provinces.
"In these last few years, we have been facing really heavy challenges which could possibly threaten our existence and future as a nation. We are in the phase of survival of the nation, the existence of our nation is currently being tested," Megawati said.
She said that the nation's problems were not the responsibility of a single group but of the whole nation. "I am calling on all components of the nation to safeguard the unity and cohesion of this free nation," she said.
She also said that the level of violence and terror experienced by the country in the recent past had now reached a dangerous level.
She cited the Christmas Eve bombings at churches and clergymen's homes across Indonesia that left 18 people killed. She called the bombings "crimes against humanity that cannot be justified by whatever reasons."
"Let us say, from now on, to say 'No' to any attempt at using violence and terror. Let us free this nation from the traps of violence and terror," she said. She called on party members and supporters to oppose violence.
PDIP was a splinter group of the Indonesian Democracy Party (PDI) set up as a fusion of several nationalist and Christian parties in 1973.
It was a faction loyal to Megawati who was ousted from the PDI leadership in 1996, two years ahead of her term, by a government-orchestrated party congress.
The PDIP took on its present identity in February 1999, to differentiate it from the PDI which had been permitted by Suharto's hand-picked successor BJ Habibie to retain the name and also take part in the 1999 general elections.
Despite the PDIP gathering the largest number of legislative seats in the 1999 elections, Megawati was elected vice president, behind President Abdurrahman Wahid.
At the rally, Megawati lashed out at Wahid's critics whom she said had been quick to deride the young government's performance. "Transition is not an instant process. It is a very long process ... It demands political patience from us all," she said.
Without the patience and the willingness to work together, she warned that Indonesia could slip back into old authoritarian and repressive practices.
The anniversary celebration was also attended by Wahid, House Speaker Akbar Tanjung and Wahid's staunch critic, National Assembly Chairman Amien Rais.
Thousands had thronged the south Jakarta sports stadium, hours before the ceremony began, many coming from elsewhere in Java and from Sumatra. Outside, an equal number of people paraded on the main thoroughfare, reminiscent of the mass street rallies of the 1999 election campaign. More than 3,500 police, soldiers and PDIP security corps patrolled the area.