Student protest greets Habibie on visit to C. Java<\/p>\n
KENDAL, Central Java (JP): About 100 students staged a
\ndemonstration here on Thursday to demand that President B.J.
\nHabibie take concrete measures to lower the price of staple
\nfoods, even as the President was asserting his commitment to help
\nthe poor in a ceremony a few hundreds meter away.<\/p>\n
\"End people's suffering,\" the students, who identified
\nthemselves as the Indonesian Moslem Students Committee (KAMMI),
\nshouted in the direction of the gathering.<\/p>\n
\"The government is determined to prioritize the development of
\nhuman resources and the alleviation of poverty,\" the President
\nsaid in his speech, unaware of the demonstration outside the
\nvenue.<\/p>\n
Habibie visited Kendal to present scholarships for students
\nand financial assistance for schools worth Rp 140 billion (US$ 12
\nmillion) as part of the government's program to assist education
\nin the province.<\/p>\n
The President also disclosed that the government has allocated
\nRp 1.5 trillion (US$ 1.37 billion) to help millions of school
\nchildren and 500,000 university students in the 1998\/1999 fiscal
\nyear.<\/p>\n
\"The government has given scholarships to a total of four
\nmillion primary, junior, and senior high school students and
\nprovided operational assistance to 130,000 schools throughout the
\ncountry,\" Habibie noted.<\/p>\n
Habibie said he was very concerned about the number of
\nstudents dropping out of school and university as a result of the
\neconomic crisis.<\/p>\n
He noted that only 54 percent of the country's 40 million
\nchildren between the ages of seven and 15 were now attending the
\ncompulsory nine years of education compared to 72.26 percent two
\nyears ago.<\/p>\n
\"This figure is similar to the figure for five years ago. The
\nsharp decrease is really worrying us,\" the President noted.<\/p>\n
The Rp 1.5 trillion fund is part of the country's social
\nsafety net program which was established with the assistance of
\ndonor agencies including the International Monetary Fund (IMF),
\nthe World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.<\/p>\n
The student demonstration did not disturb the ceremony.<\/p>\n
In their banners, the students demanded Habibie lower the
\nprice of basic commodities and punish corrupt officials,
\nespecially those responsible for distributing foodstuffs.<\/p>\n
In a separate meeting with 17 top Australian businessmen on
\nThursday evening, the President reiterated his pledge to help
\nunfortunate students, saying that the future of the nation
\ndepended on them.<\/p>\n
\"(Until now) we have never spent more than $1 billion on
\neducation scholarships,\" the President boasted.<\/p>\n
During the meeting, the entrepreneurs told Habibie that 91
\npercent of Australian companies with bases here had maintained
\ntheir operations throughout the economic crisis.<\/p>\n
\"We were here with you when you were in a pleasant condition
\nand we will remain with you during these difficult times,\" said
\nLeigh Purnell, the director of the Australian Industry Group.<\/p>\n
\"I must try to convince the other nine percent to come back to
\nIndonesia,\" the President replied to Purnell's statement.<\/p>\n
The meeting was also attended by Sabam Siagian, who chairs the
\nIndonesia-Australia Business Council (IABAC), and Aburizal
\nBakrie, the chairman of Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and
\nIndustry. (har\/prb)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/student-protest-greets-habibie-on-visit-to-c-java-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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