Students taking break to plan further action<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): In honor of the Ascension Day of Prophet
\nMuhammad on Tuesday, students across the country took a break
\nfrom demonstrations.<\/p>\n
Students were however planning further action, and in Jakarta
\nthey were checking on injured colleagues at hospitals.<\/p>\n
The Black Friday tragedy has all but dampened students'
\ninsistence on keeping up their rallies.<\/p>\n
The groups comprise both those for and against the results of
\nthe Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly. All
\nstudents are adamantly against the decree adopted by the session
\nwhich justified the continued representation of the Armed Forces
\nin the Assembly and the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
Student groups say they will press on for a transitional
\ngovernment, and for the Armed Forces' (ABRI) dual function to be
\nrevoked. Many have also dismissed the subversion charges slapped
\non government critics currently under police questioning.<\/p>\n
\"We will continue to stage protests until this country has a
\ndemocratic transitional government which is free from former
\npresident Soeharto, President B.J. Habibie and their cronies,\"
\nsaid Adian, a leader of Forkot (Forum Kota).<\/p>\n
Speaking to The Jakarta Post Tuesday at Forkot's base at the
\nIndonesian Christian University in Cawang, East Jakarta, Adian
\nand others were creating red ornamental flowers for the group's
\n\"sympathetic action\" scheduled for Wednesday.<\/p>\n
He admitted that students were tired and hungry.<\/p>\n
\"We are busy, helping our injured friends... but we believe
\nthe people are behind us. Taxi drivers, housewives, people from
\nall walks of life have given donations.<\/p>\n
\"Coughs and colds are usual. Bullets and rocks won't scare us
\naway.\" Forkot comprises 36 campuses and has been labeled
\n\"communist\" by some parties for its comparatively radical stance.
\nForkot claimed some vigilantes were still harassing them.<\/p>\n
Forkot's rejection of the session results differs from Forum
\nSalemba, the Association of Moslem Students (HMI), the Indonesian
\nMoslem Action Student Front (KAMMI), the Muhammadiyah Students'
\nAssociation, the Indonesian Students Forum (Forma) and the
\nYogyakarta Communication Forum of Moslem Students.<\/p>\n
These groups released a joint statement Monday, saying that
\nthe Special Session and its results were constitutional.<\/p>\n
\"The Special Session is one of the most important phases
\ntowards a democratic Indonesia,\" it said. The results were not
\nperfect, the statement noted, \"but we have to respond to it in a
\nmanner which is elegant, wise and anti-anarchy.\"<\/p>\n
Billy of Forum Salemba said his group wants to fight for
\nchanges through campus. \"We just want to remind other students
\nthat such movements as street rallies, especially in current
\nconditions, are very risky,\" Billy, who also chairs UI's school
\nof medicine senate, said.<\/p>\n
Adian and Ki Joyo Sardo, another student, acknowledged they
\ncould not contain the masses involving \"provocateurs,\" who they
\nblamed for looting and attempts at arson on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Forkot's Adian said the current government was not legitimate,
\na result \"of a deceitful general election and a corrupted
\ngovernment which was politically and morally crippled.\" The
\nCommunication Forum of Jakarta Student Senates (FKSMJ), East
\nJakarta's Jatiwaringin Forum, the National Coalition and dozens
\nof political parties were also among those demanding a
\ntransitional government, he said.<\/p>\n
Adian reiterated that his group had also rejected the March
\nGeneral Session of the Assembly, which had reinstalled Soeharto
\nfor a seventh term, and its results.<\/p>\n
Regarding the Semanggi tragedy he said Forkot calls for the
\nresignation of both Minister of Defense and Security\/Armed Forces
\nCommander Gen. Wiranto and also Habibie from the presidency.<\/p>\n
Sardo, a member of the Big Family of the University of
\nIndonesia, said the shootings could easily be labeled \"a
\n'procedural' mistake like the recent Trisakti incident.\"
\nDemanding the end of ABRI's dual role, he said, \"There will
\nalways be Wirantos or Habibies if the system is unchanged.\"<\/p>\n
The University's Big Family also rejects the session results
\nand urges the immediate establishment of a \"People's Council\",
\nconsisting of all of the nation's components.<\/p>\n
Lutfi of the Indonesian Moslem Students Association, PMII,
\nlambasted what he said was the \"rulers' effort to divert people's
\nattention\" from the Semanggi tragedy.<\/p>\n
\"They'll use anything to break the student movement. They even
\nhire crooks and naive people with Islam as a mask,\" he said,
\nciting the Volunteer Security Units wearing bandannas praising
\nAllah who were \"pitted against students.\"<\/p>\n
\"I myself am a Moslem... Now they've created this
\n'subversion' issue. Therefore I call for students to unite,\"
\nLutfi added, echoed by others. (edt)<\/p>",
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