The poor in Indonesia as well as non-government organisations (NGOs) are increasingly becoming victims of violence instigated by the country's political elite, say activists here.

Indeed, they say, politicians and perhaps even some local officials may be behind the violent incident on March 28 that resulted in at least 50 people, including women and children, getting injured while staging a peaceful rally in front of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) here in Jakarta.

Sixteen of the rallyists, among them a four-year-old boy, were in critical condition but have been discharged from the state-owned Cipto Mangukusumo General Hospital. They have to undergo check-ups every other day.

Authorities say 500 members of the so-called Betawi Brotherhood Forum (FBR), wearing black clothing and hats and wielding wooden sticks and even machetes, carried out the attack.

Seven FBR members are already in police custody. But Komnas HAM secretary-general Asmara Nababan notes, ''The attack shows that a new fascism is taking root in Indonesia. If the attackers are not punished accordingly, similar incidents are bound to [be repeated].''

Demonstrators attacked

In fact, earlier, on March 13, dozens of unidentified people had already attacked the office of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras), beating up one staff member and vandalising property belonging to the human rights organisation.

The attackers accused Kontras founder Munir (who uses only one name) of organising a protest by parents of students killed during pro-reform protests in 1998 and 1999 at the residence of former military commander Gen (retired) Wiranto.

Also on March 13, 300 members of FBR, armed with sticks and swords, chased away dozens of flood victims who were protesting in front of City Hall. Some of the demonstrators later said they were beaten up.

More than 365,000 people were affected by the huge floods that had inundated the capital in late January, and the protesters were demanding that Governor Sutiyoso take responsibility for not anticipating the disaster and its aftermath.

But the latest incident has caught the eye of even Vice-President Hamzah Haz, who has ordered the police to launch a full investigation on it. Says Hamazah: ''We need non-governmental organisations, which are concerned with government policies.''

Sutiyoso suspected

Activists, though, think they already know who was behind the March 28 attack. As they see it, what took place is more likely a part of a fight among local politicians than anything else, and is tied with the next gubernatorial elections scheduled this October.

In truth, it is widely speculated that the FBR is being used by the political opponents of Governor Sutiyoso, who will be running for re-election.

But many activists are not discounting the possibility that Sutiyoso himself may have had a hand in the attack to intimidate those who oppose him and his administration's policies.

Some activists even go as far as saying that Sutiyoso is using the FBR to taint the image of the Betawi people, since they have been demanding that the Jakarta governor be a Betawi or indigenous Jakartan. Sutiyoso is not a Betawi.

The Betawis are the indigenous people of Jakarta, marginalised economically and politically. Many of them have sold their lands to migrants from Java and other parts of Indonesia and moved to the outskirts of Jakarta.

But Sutiyoso has been quick to deny involvement with the March 28 incident, adding that he knows nothing about the FBR. Sutiyoso also complains that NGOs are always pointing the finger at him for all sorts of things.

Evicted poors rally

Some activists, however, show no signs of changing their minds about the supposed culpability of local officials in the attack.

Says human rights lawyer Bambang Widjojanto, who used to head the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation: 'The attack against the poor people is not an isolated case and was masterminded by certain people in power.''

''If the mastermind of the incident is already determined,'' he also says, ''Komnas HAM has no other choice but to form an ad hoc team to investigate possible human rights violations.''

The rally of about 400 sidewalk vendors, pedicab drivers, street musicians and eviction victims had been organised by the Urban Poor Consortium (UPC), which wanted a dialogue with Komnas HAM officials regarding the way the Jakarta administration had been treating its poorer constituents.

The UPC managed to urge Komnas HAM to put pressure on the Jakarta administration to respect a March 1 decision by the Central Jakarta District Court against the governor and other top city authorities.

The ruling said that Sutiyoso, Jakarta Police Chief Inspector Gen Makbul Padmanagara and Jakarta Military Commander Bibit Waluyo had acted unlawfully in evicting pedicab drivers, car washers, street vendors and street singers two years ago.

The Jakarta administration, supported by the police and military, had conducted forcible and violent mass evictions of the poor, including street-based entrepreneurs, in a number of instances last year as part of a ''clean-up'' drive initiated by Sutiyoso.

More than 30 billion rupiah (US$2.9 million) in funds had been spent to finance public order operations against pedicabs alone. The pedicabs, known as becak , have been banned by a city bylaw on public order.

In evicting slum communities, Sutiyoso had said he wanted to make Jakarta a city without slums and implement projects such as flood control.

Crime against humanity

Last October, however, 67 urban poor people, representing 15,000 poor people in Jakarta, filed a class action against the governor specifically over his policy banning street vendors, pedicab drivers and street singers from operating in Jakarta. It was this suit that had the Central Jakarta District Court issuing the March 12 verdict.

Despite the ruling, though, the Jakarta administration continued to conduct anti-pedicab raids. Argued the governor: ''The court did not order that the raids be stopped as the pedicab drivers demanded.''

As a result, the UPC sought to speak with Komnas HAM officials, whom it also later asked to conduct a human rights trial against Sutiyoso for alleged violations.

''I was sharing the results of our dialogue with Komnas HAM officials to the people when the FBR group attacked us,'' recounts Wardah Hafidz, co-ordinator of the UPC.

She also says that she had received a warning about the assault through her mobile phone five minutes before the FBR members descended on them. Wardah says she passed on the information to the police guarding the Komnas HAM compound but that they just ignored her.

''In our opinion, Sutiyoso has committed a crime against humanity,'' she says. ''I only hope both the military and authorities no longer use the masses to protect their own interests. It can and will spark conflict in our fragile security situation in the city.''

Further reprisals

Meantime, FBR chair Ahmad Fadloli El Muhir warned of further reprisals against UPC, particularly Wardah, if she keeps up her activism.

Ahmad is the chair of the Jakarta chapter of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), the party that President Megawati Sukarnoputri's camp split from following the violent assault on her headquarters in July 1996. Sutiyoso, then Jakarta military commander, played a role behind the scenes,as he admitted to the police in an investigation.