Students step up street rallies despite warning<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Ignoring a recent strong warning from the Armed
\nForces (ABRI), students in various cities held several rallies on
\nTuesday, including one near the presidential palace.<\/p>\n
A group of Moslem students protested near Merdeka Palace to
\ndemand the release of Moslem political prisoners, but they were
\npushed away by security personnel.<\/p>\n
"Religious leaders remain detained while PKI members are being
\nfreed," the protesters yelled while marching toward the State
\nSecretariat next to the palace.<\/p>\n
The protesters, from the Association of Moslem Students, were
\nreferring to members of the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party
\n(PKI), three elderly members of which have been released by the
\ngovernment under an amnesty along with more than 100 other
\npolitical prisoners since May.<\/p>\n
"Free political prisoners and detainees," "Free religious
\nleaders who were victims of political engineering by the Soeharto
\nregime," and "Believers are slaughtered, where are your morals
\nand sense of justice?" read several posters carried by
\ndemonstrators.<\/p>\n
Heavy security of about 100 armed soldiers prevented the
\ndemonstrators from approaching the State Secretariat, and some
\nsoldiers pushed them away from a bridge behind the complex.<\/p>\n
The protesters dispersed briefly but regrouped later and moved
\ntoward Istiqlal Grand Mosque some 700 meters away.<\/p>\n
They called for the government to look at the case of aging
\nMoslem religious leader Habib Husein al-Habsyi who was imprisoned
\nfor life by Soeharto's government in 1990. Habib was accused of
\nmasterminding several bombings in the 1980s.<\/p>\n
"If those demands are not met by the government, President
\nB.J. Habibie should resign in a move to reflect his inability to
\ndefend human rights," a statement distributed by the protesters
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
The protest was the second in recent days to be held near the
\npalace complex, which the military has said is of strategic and
\nvital importance and off limits to protesters.<\/p>\n
Last Thursday, 500 students protested near the palace,
\ndemanding Habibie step down and that prices be reduced.<\/p>\n
Minister of Defense and Security\/ABRI Commander Gen. Wiranto
\nwarned of stern action on Friday against protesters who
\nundermined security.<\/p>\n
In another rally on Tuesday, about 40 students from Trisakti
\nUniversity tried to enter the House of Representatives complex
\nbut were held back by soldiers a few hundred meters away from the
\nmain entrance gate.<\/p>\n
Some of the students wore their university's blue jacket and
\nwaved the university's flag, and called for price cuts and
\nHabibie to quit.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, some 60 National University students marched from
\nGambir Railway Station on the rim of Central Jakarta's Merdeka
\nSquare to the Legal Aid Institute to protest the high prices of
\nessentials.<\/p>\n
Dozens of Indonesian Christian University (UKI) students also
\nstaged a protest in East Jakarta demanding the ouster of Habibie
\nand lower prices of basic commodities.<\/p>\n
Student rallies were also seen in a number of towns in Central
\nJava, East Java and West Java on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
In the Central Java capital of Semarang, hundreds of students
\nstaged a protest at the provincial legislature demanding lower
\nprices of basic commodities. In another part of the city,
\nhowever, hundreds of other students staged a protest demanding
\nthe government reopen the investigation into the 1984 killing of
\ndemonstrators by the military in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The students, grouped in the Indonesian Students Action Forum
\n(FAMI) demanded provincial House Speaker Alip Pandoyo, who was
\nthen the Jakarta Military Command operational assistant in 1984,
\nto unveil the "facts" behind the incident.<\/p>\n
In the Central Java town of Purwokerto, some 350 students from
\nthe state Soedirman University and the Islamic Studies Institute
\nalso held rallies against Habibie and skyrocketing prices of
\nbasic commodities.<\/p>\n
"It is time for Habibie to resign because, during his first
\nthree months of leadership, the people are suffering more and
\nmore from the crisis," student leader A. Mukti said.<\/p>\n
Similar protests were also seen in the East Java town of
\nMalang and West Java's Cianjur where hundreds of students and
\npeople protested the high prices of essentials at the local
\noffices of the State Logistics Agency (Bulog).<\/p>\n
In Bantul, some seven kilometers south of Yogyakarta, about
\n1,000 PT Samitex factory workers also staged a protest on Tuesday
\ndemanding a pay increase.<\/p>\n
The workers said their Rp 110,000 (US$11) per month salary was
\nbelow the minimum regional wage of Rp 130,000 per month.<\/p>\n
The factory's owner, Sutanto, however said the management had
\nincreased their wages 25 percent each month since December up to
\nMarch. (emf\/har\/45\/23\/44\/byg\/nur)<\/p>",
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