Jakarta – Pro-reform organizations across Java and Sumatra yesterday stepped up their demands for the former ruling Golkar Party to be dissolved and investigated over its involvement in corruption and human rights abuses.
Hundreds of people representing at least 20 groups in North Sumatra staged a rally in the provinces capital of Medan to demand the dissolution of Golkar, used by former president Soeharto to retain his corrupt New Order rule for 32 years.
The protesters, calling themselves members of the North Sumatra Anti-New Order Community, also urged the disbandment of upper and lower legislative bodies because they are still controlled by the remnants of Soehartos regime.
We ask the government to soon try officials linked to New Order remnants, as they have been disadvantaging the people and making them suffer. And we ask for Golkar Party to be dissolved, Yansen Harahap, protest spokesman, was quoted as saying by Antara.
Harahap, chairman of the Nahdlatul Ulama Youth Force (AMNU), argued that Golkar has hampered efforts to implement sweeping reforms.
Other groups at the Medan rally included the Marhaen Peoples Movement, the National Front for Industrial Workers Unions, the Student League for Democracy, the National Brotherhood Institute, the National Farmers Union and the Syndicate of Anti-Fascists.
Golkar, which has the second-largest faction in parliament, has been under strong pressure this month to disband after it took a leading role in moves aimed at unseating President Abdurrahman Wahid over his alleged involvement in two financial scandals.
The House of Representatives early this month censured Wahid after its special committee said the president could be suspected of involvement in the theft of Rp35 billion from the National Logistics Agency (Bulog) and a second scandal over a US$2 million donation from the Sultan of Brunei.
In the East Java capital of Surabaya, similar anti-Golkar protests continued yesterday to push for the trial of the former ruling party, but refrained from calling for its dissolution.
Thousands of students and youths from Surabaya, Lamongan, Gresik, Mojokerto and Malang, grouped in the Front for Total Reforms (FRT), demonstrated against Golkar in the nations second biggest city, urging the government to seize the ill-gotten wealth of corrupt officials who prospered during Soehartos regime.
The one-and-half-hour protest, which started at 11am, ended peacefully as security forces were on tight alert to prevent it from turning violent. We do not demand that Golkar be disbanded because it violates the results of the past elections regarded as democratic, but we want the party tried in various cases of corruption, collusion and nepotism, said Yordan Batara-goa, secretary of the FRT presidium.
On Saturday, dozens of anti-Golkar protesters blocked House Speaker Akbar Tandjung on his arrival at Sultan Syarief Kasyim Airport in the Riau capital of Pekanbaru, but he later managed to get through the line after police fired warning shots.
Meanwhile, senior members of the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) have thrown their weight behind mounting calls for a parliamentary probe into a Rp90 billion corruption scandal allegedly involving Golkar.
Defense Minister Mohammad Mahfud says he has sufficient evidence that the party took Rp90 billion from Bulog to fund its campaign ahead of the 1999 general election. He has urged parliament to set up a special committee to investigate the scandal, dubbed Golkargate.
Haryanto Taslam, a former deputy secretary of PDI-P, said the calls should be appreciated and followed up. If we are really committed to eradicating KKN [corruption, collusion and nepotism practices], we should not be discriminatory, he told the Jawa Pos newspaper daily in a response to Mahfuds calls.