Students rally to demand lower food prices<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Around 500 students staged a rally on the
\nroundabout outside Hotel Indonesia in Central Jakarta on
\nWednesday to demand a reduction in the price of basic foodstuffs
\nand the establishment of what they called the Indonesian people's
\ncommittee.<\/p>\n
The students, who were grouped in Forum Kota -- a loose
\nassociation of students from 37 universities and colleges in the
\nGreater Jakarta area -- sat around the fountain in the center of
\nthe roundabout singing protest songs.<\/p>\n
They waved banners daubed with slogans such as: \"Lower prices!
\nWe reject the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) extraordinary
\nsession\", \"Forum Kota moves with conscience\", \"Stop violence
\nagainst people\", \"Stop pitting us against each other\", \"Mister,
\nwe're hungry\", \"Set up a transitional government immediately\",
\n\"Our babies are suffering from malnutrition, bring down the price
\nof milk\".<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, students from the Communication Forum of the
\nJakarta Student Senate staged their own rally to demand the
\nremoval of members of the People's Consultative Assembly who were
\nappointed through nepotism.<\/p>\n
Forum Kota's spokesman Noel said on Wednesday that the
\nstudents had felt compelled to remind the government about the
\nspirit of reform.<\/p>\n
\"The situation in the reform era is becoming ever more
\nuncertain. Killings are occurring everywhere, including in
\nBanyuwangi. We are against it,\" Noel told reporters.<\/p>\n
He said the students wanted to see the establishment of the
\nIndonesian People's Committee, a forum which they said should
\nconsist of leading public figures like Abdurrahman Wahid, the
\nchairman of 30 million-strong Nahdlatul Ulama, Megawati
\nSoekarnoputri, the leader of a faction in the splintered
\nIndonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and Amien Rais, the chairman of
\nthe National Mandate Party (PAN).<\/p>\n
\"We have not set any timetable. The students constitute a
\nforceful movement ... we don't have any vested interests,\" Noel
\nadded.<\/p>\n
He said the forum would not oppose the 1999 general election
\nif it was not abused by those in power.<\/p>\n
\"We will support the general election if it is not used to
\nadvance any hidden agendas,\" said Noel, a 23-year-old student
\nfrom the Institute of Social and Political Sciences in South
\nJakarta.<\/p>\n
Noel reiterated that the forum was not communist in nature and
\ninsisted that it did not have communist backing either.<\/p>\n
\"We are not communists. The suggestion that we are communists
\nis a stigma placed upon us by the New Order regime,\" he said.<\/p>\n
After circling the fountain in the middle of the roundabout,
\nthe students then marched off towards Matraman in East Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Earlier in the day, police officers used rattan sticks to herd
\n20 student demonstrators back from the gates of the Ministry of
\nDefense and Security. Most of students were from the National
\nInstitute of Science and Technology in South Jakarta,<\/p>\n
The students were attempting to protest against the military's
\nhandling of the mysterious killing spree in East Java.<\/p>\n
The group burst out off the nearby National Monument Square
\nwaving national flags and shouting: \"Our friends in Banyuwangi
\nare being killed, what are you going to do about it.\"<\/p>\n
Scuffles ensued as the officers tried to grab banners the
\nstudents had brought with them. No injuries were reported.
\n(ivy\/emf)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/students-rally-to-demand-lower-food-prices-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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