Soeharto willing to hold dialog with students<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto has expressed a willingness
\nto hold a dialog with students who have been protesting rising
\nprices and demanding reforms.<\/p>\n
State Minister of Youth and Sports Affairs Agung Laksono said
\nyesterday the President would gladly talk to the students,
\nespecially if they could provide him with concrete proposals on
\nhow to boost development.<\/p>\n
\"He (Soeharto) said in principle that it's OK. A dialog
\nbetween students and the President is possible...He is accustomed
\nto meeting people, including farmers, fishermen and athletes,\"
\nAgung said after meeting with Soeharto at the latter's private
\nresidence on Jl. Cendana, Central Jakarta, yesterday.<\/p>\n
Thousands of students across the country have been staging
\nhundreds of protests, some even marred by violence, demanding
\nlower prices of basic commodities and sweeping economic and
\npolitical reforms.<\/p>\n
They also have demanded an audience with Soeharto to air their
\ngrievances.<\/p>\n
Minister of Defense and Security\/Armed Forces Commander Gen.
\nWiranto said Sunday he would meet with students from 17
\nuniversities Saturday.<\/p>\n
Students were angered by a statement from Coordinating
\nMinister for Political and Security Affairs Gen. (ret) Feisal
\nTanjung last week dismissing the student requests to talk with
\nthe President as being \"impossible\".<\/p>\n
In the past, the President has held dialogs with farmers and
\nvillagers. Most of the prepared questions raised to the President
\nwere, however, nonpolitical in nature.<\/p>\n
\"A mediator is not needed (in the dialog),\" said Agung.<\/p>\n
Student rallies continued yesterday at several campuses in
\nCentral and East Java.<\/p>\n
Seven people were injured yesterday morning, including two
\nsecurity personnel, when 200 students of the state-run Sunan
\nKalijaga Islamic Institute in Yogyakarta attempted to march off
\ntheir campus to the provincial council building.<\/p>\n
Troops blocked the students and insisted that they stay inside
\ntheir campus. Students then threw stones at them.<\/p>\n
\"Why are we not allowed to channel our aspirations to the
\nlocal council?\" shouted one of the student leaders.<\/p>\n
Diponegoro University students in Semarang sent a letter to
\nMinister of Justice Muladi, demanding him to enforce the law.<\/p>\n
\"Our demonstration is not engineered by other parties, it
\ncomes from our own awareness,\" they told Muladi, who is also
\ntheir rector.<\/p>\n
Dozens of students of the Surabaya Institute of Technology
\n(ITS) in East Java held a forum yesterday and urged the
\ngovernment to fight against corruption, nepotism and collusion.<\/p>\n
Airlangga University students in Surabaya, however, believe
\nthat the President should be allowed six months to restore the
\ncountry's chaotic economy.<\/p>\n
Poll organizer Dharmawan Tri said here yesterday that 365 or
\n86.9 percent of 420 students queried last week believed that the
\nPeople's Consultative Assembly should hold a special meeting to
\ndemand an accountability from Soeharto if he failed to overcome
\nthe economic crisis in that time period. (har\/nur\/23\/44\/prb)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/soeharto-willing-to-hold-dialog-with-students-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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