Indonesia Marchers Protest Bombing

By MARK MAGNIER and SARI SUDARSONO

Oct. 20, 2001 12 AM PT

SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

JAKARTA, Indonesia — In the largest demonstration here since the U.S. launched its campaign in Afghanistan, an estimated 10,000 Indonesians took to the streets of Jakarta after Friday prayers.

In contrast to the violent protests here earlier this week, the demonstration was peaceful. But some cautioned that public anger could intensify if the U.S. airstrikes don’t end soon.

“Our sense of injustice is rising, and we hope by doing this we can help our brothers and sisters in Afghanistan,” said Ummu Aslam, a 34-year-old teacher. “We don’t agree with the attack on the World Trade Center, but attacking Afghanistan is not the solution either.”

The largely middle-class crowd included students, women in head scarves, senior citizens and mothers with children. People started amassing in Merdeka Square after midday services on the holiest day of the week for Muslims. They headed past the U.S. Embassy and eventually dispersed near the British Embassy.

President Megawati Sukarnoputri has walked a careful line--some see her stance as wishy-washy--since the U.S. attacks began Oct. 7. The president is balancing her desire to avoid alienating Washington against her political need to avoid angering local Muslim groups that see the U.S. action as a broad-based attack on Islam. Indonesia is the world’s most populous Muslim country.

At the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Shanghai, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hasan Wirayuda told reporters Friday after meeting with Secretary of State Colin L. Powell that a collective international response to terrorism is better than the United States going it alone, Associated Press reported.

Andi Malarangeng, a Jakarta-based political analyst and former staffer in the recently ousted government of Abdurrahman Wahid, said Friday’s large demonstrations intensified the pressure on Megawati’s government but aren’t enough to destabilize the administration or undermine Indonesia’s international reputation.

“As long as they’re done peacefully, it won’t affect much,” he said. “That said, the government also needs to act properly” and avoid overreacting or provoking violence, he added.

Several of Friday’s demonstrators expressed skepticism that America has proof that the Sept. 11 attacks on New York and the Pentagon were in fact the work of Saudi militant Osama bin Laden.

“The evidence America and the British have come up with isn’t conclusive,” said Ahmad Zaki, a 28-year-old furniture salesman. “Osama is a scapegoat. The real U.S. aim is to destroy Afghanistan and all of Islam.”

Others accused the U.S. of arrogance and hypocrisy, even as they condemned the loss of life on both sides. “When America’s interests are threatened, they call it an attack on humanity,” said Armand, a 35-year-old vocational school worker. “When Islam’s interests are violated, however, they just keep silent.”

Security was low-key and traffic continued to move slowly during the protest, although hundreds of soldiers and police stood at the ready.

Times staff writer Magnier reported from Tokyo and Sudarsono from The Times’ Jakarta Bureau.