Andi Haswidi, Batam, Riau Islands – Activists said Thursday they had received threats from people claiming to represent local NGOs warning them to call off a planned international antiglobalization forum on Batam island.
"They are threatening to deploy some 2,900 people to besiege this meeting venue tomorrow," Ramses, an organizing committee member for the international civil society organizations (CSOs) forum, said in Batam on Thursday.
The three-day gathering is due to start Friday at the island's haj dormitory to coincide with the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings taking place in Singapore, some 40 minutes away by ferry from Batam.
Other committee members also said they had received anonymous phone calls and text messages threatening to "break up" the forum.
Several banners carrying slogans denouncing the planned antiglobalization gathering were seen in the Nagoya area of Batam before being removed by authorities earlier this week. The banners suggested the forum lacked the spirit of nationalism and could scare off investors from the industrial island.
On Sept. 4, 18 local NGOs published a statement in a local newspaper asking police to ban the forum. Police in Batam did initially decide to bar the gathering, but were overridden by National Police Headquarters.
Ramses said the threats began arriving after organizers rejected a request from a group of men claiming to represent several local NGOs to be included on the organizing committee.
"We didn't reject them. We merely offered them the chance to be participants in the forum. It was impossible to include them on the committee because it was already established a long time ago," he said.
Donatus Markus, director of the International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID), also the caretaker of the forum, said the gathering would go ahead as planned.
"Personally, I'm surprised to hear threats coming from people claiming to represent local NGOs. In our previous event in Yogyakarta last year, local NGOs were very cooperative. They even helped secure our forum," he said.
Commenting on the extensive police presence around the haj dormitory and in other areas of Batam, Donatus said it indicated something "unexpected" could happen during the forum.
Riau Islands Police chief Brig. Gen. Sutarman told The Jakarta Post more than 800 officers from a special antiterror squad would be deployed to secure the gathering. "We held a preparatory ceremony this morning (Thursday)," he said.
The forum will be attended by some 600 activists representing international civil society organizations, including Oxfam International, Infid, 50 Years is Enough, South Jubilee, Bank Information Center and the North East Civil Society Initiative Against International Financial Institutions.
The gathering will discuss what is seen as the triple crises of legitimacy, role and budget at the IMF and its twin sister, the World Bank, and will involve campaign materials from numerous CSO representatives.
Indonesia's former chief economics minister, Kwik Kian Gie, who is known for his staunch opposition to IMF policies, has been invited to speak at the forum.