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No coup as protest ends; leaders decry over-reaction

Despite a paranoid official overreaction, the Sovereign Indonesian People’s Assembly (MKRI) staged a protest on Monday, calling for the President’s resignation and the formation of a transitional government

Yuliasri Perdani (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta
Tue, March 26, 2013

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No coup as protest ends; leaders decry over-reaction

D

espite a paranoid official overreaction, the Sovereign Indonesian People’s Assembly (MKRI) staged a protest on Monday, calling for the President’s resignation and the formation of a transitional government.

The chief of the National Intelligence Agency (BIN) previously branded the protest as a plot to overthrow President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

While the MKRI planned to rally in front of the State Palace, ”security concerns” prompted a relocation to an alley in front of the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute’s (LBH Jakarta) headquarters in Salemba, Central Jakarta.

The secretary-general of the MKRI, Adhie Massardi, said that officials had made a series of public statement to discredit the movement.

“We’ve been threatened by the officials, Adhie, former spokesman for late president Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid, said, singling out Defense Minister Purnomo Yusgiantoro.

“The defense minister said that he would crush those people who would create a mess. He’s the defense minister and he has the authority, but when he made this statement publicly, it’s a real threat,” Adhie said.

MKRI chairwoman, the playwright Ratna Sarumpaet, said that the government had shown its true colors in its overreaction to the rally.

“We don’t want to defy the soldiers deployed by the government. The President is a pansy [banci]. How come he’s so terrified of our actions?” Ratna told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Earlier this month, Yudhoyono claimed that he had received intelligence reports that a coup d’etat was possible.

Last week, National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Lt. Gen. Marciano Norman accused Ratna and her group of plotting to overthrow the President.

Usman Arif, member of MKRI’s board, dismissed statements that the activists had been fostering a revolution.

“In order to execute a coup d’etat, we would need the military to back us up. We are not supported by the TNI [Indonesian Military]. So please stop overreacting to our activities,” Usman told the Post.

Presidential spokesman Julian Aldrin Pasha said on Monday that Yudhoyono had not been concerned by the protest and said that the President encouraged democratic debate, sort of.

“The President is a true democrat, who always gives an opportunity for citizens to express their aspirations, as long as it is expressed in a positive and constructive way,” Julian said at National Police headquarters in Jakarta. (ogi)

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