Students rebuke Juwono for plan to control protests<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Education and Culture Juwono
\nSudarsono was rebuked by students he briefed on Friday on the
\nneed for \"safe, orderly and controlled\" street demonstrations to
\nprevent casualties in future protests.<\/p>\n
The students -- a group of 60 from the University of Indonesia
\n-- that the minister invited for a dialog at his office, accused
\nhim of attempting to reintroduce the much-feared New Order's
\n\"security approach.\" Juwono maintained his composure, and
\nconvinced his guests he was just \"urging\" them, not \"regulating\".<\/p>\n
\"Now it is the students who regulate ministers, rather than
\nthe other way around,\" the former dean of the University's school
\nof social and political sciences said. \"This won't be a policy,
\nbut just a 'message'.\"<\/p>\n
He started by telling the students results of an earlier
\nmeeting he had in the morning at his office with Armed Forces
\n(ABRI) Chief of General Affairs Lt. Gen. Fachrul Razi and rectors
\nof 15 private universities in Jakarta. A similar meeting was held
\non Thursday between Fachrul Razi, Minister of Religious Affairs
\nMalik Fadjar and rectors of 28 Islamic universities.<\/p>\n
The talk on Friday was on the need for campuses \"to
\nconsolidate\" so they could retain the basis of a true moral
\nmovement, Juwono said.<\/p>\n
\"If campuses have become bases for mass gatherings, how are
\ngatherings to be made orderly?\" he asked.<\/p>\n
Juwono announced Sunday there were certain groups working to
\npit students against security apparatus in last week's
\ndemonstrations, which ended in seven students killed at the
\nSemanggi cloverleaf on Nov. 13.<\/p>\n
He added Friday that, especially during next year's
\nelectioneering, there would be many political figures visiting
\ncampuses under the pretext of fighting for the people.<\/p>\n
\"Especially to the Salemba campus of the University of
\nIndonesia,\" Juwono, himself a politics professor at the
\nuniversity, said.<\/p>\n
So, among other things, Juwono said, the less demonstrators
\nthere were, the more easily the demonstration could be controlled
\nand the fewer chances there would be of violence and victims.<\/p>\n
However, Juwono commended student demonstrations over the past
\ntwo days. Besides, Juwono said, students must protect themselves
\nfrom \"infiltrators\" by wearing their student cards and varsity
\njackets.<\/p>\n
Juwono said Fachrul Razi had warned of infiltrators. Fachrul
\nalso said the Military Police were investigating the possibility
\nthat it was some security personnel who provoked the violence.<\/p>\n
However, the students slammed Juwono for the briefing.<\/p>\n
One student told Juwono to convey it to President B.J. Habibie
\nthat if his government wanted to be \"truly pro-reform\", it must
\n\"criticize itself first\".<\/p>\n
\"Do you just want to regulate the people while failing to
\nregulate the security apparatus? And it's so easy to slap the
\nlabel of treason on people... if it's not true, the government
\nwill just lose its credibility,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The student also urged Juwono to tell Habibie not to drag his
\nfeet in the investigation into Soeharto's alleged power abuses
\nand corruption over the past 32 years.<\/p>\n
Another student accused Juwono of trying to \"separate the
\nstudents from the people\" with his suggestion that students wear
\nidentities and jackets.<\/p>\n
One even called him a spokesman for \"a regime that sees
\ndemands for change as a threat to its power\" and urged his
\nfriends to walk out on the minister whom he charged was still
\n\"the product of Soeharto.\"<\/p>\n
However his colleagues chose to stay after Juwono asked them
\nwhether they still wanted to listen to his response to the
\naccusation.<\/p>\n
Juwono later warned students against being \"absolute
\nidealists, absolute moralists\" which he said were \"the beginning
\nof a tyranny.\"<\/p>\n
\"If I were an absolute idealist I would have become an
\nenvironment minister, attending conferences all over the world
\nrather than staying here being scolded by students. But thanks
\nfor the scolding,\" he said, and told students to be \"realistic\".<\/p>\n
In a related development, Habibie said he was sorry he could
\nnot yet visit campuses and students injured during last week's
\nclashes with security apparatus due to his tight schedule.<\/p>\n
\"I'm sorry I can't visit campuses to meet students and talk
\nwith them now. I don't have time even for myself,\" he was quoted
\nby Antara as saying when seeing off an expedition team, Biota
\nMedika, at the Merdeka Palace here Friday.<\/p>\n
He asked the team which includes university students to convey
\nhis best regards and longing to other students.<\/p>\n
\"After I am no longer in office but still in good health and
\nif everything is OK, I will visit campuses frequently,\" he said.
\n(aan)<\/p>",
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