Wiranto to hold dialog with students next week<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Defense and Security\/Armed Forces
\nCommander Gen. Wiranto is to hold a dialog with representatives
\nof 17 universities from various cities here on April 4.<\/p>\n
Djusril Djusan, chairman of the Ikbla ARH student leaders
\norganization, said here yesterday that an invitation had been
\nsent to each university for two of their representatives to
\nattend the meeting.<\/p>\n
He said the dialog was organized by a joint committee
\ninvolving the Eksponen 66 youth organization, ABRI Headquarters,
\nIkbla ARH, several ministries and political observers.<\/p>\n
Among those invited are the University of Indonesia, the
\nJakarta Teachers Training Institute, the University of Diponegoro
\nin Semarang, the Bandung Institute of Technology and Padjadjaran
\nUniversity in Bandung, the University of Gadjah Mada and
\nUniversity of Islamic Indonesia in Yogyakarta, Sebelas Maret
\nUniversity in Solo and Airlangga University in Surabaya.<\/p>\n
\"The students are expected to be prepared with matters and
\nconcepts to be discussed,\" he said, as quoted by Antara.<\/p>\n
Many ministers, including Minister of Finance Fuad Bawazier
\nand State Minister of the Empowerment of State Industries Tanri
\nAbeng, are expected to participate in the dialog.<\/p>\n
\"All participants will form a round-table conference to
\ndiscuss the concepts brought by the students,\" he said.<\/p>\n
President<\/p>\n
Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security
\nFeisal Tanjung dismissed yesterday a demand by several student
\nleaders to hold dialogs directly with President Soeharto, citing
\nstate protocol as the reason why it could not happen.<\/p>\n
Minister of Education and Culture Wiranto Arismunandar also
\nsaid such an idea was impossible.<\/p>\n
\"It will certainly be impractical for the President to hold
\ndialogs with students from one university and then another,\" he
\ntold reporters in his office yesterday.<\/p>\n
Wiranto balked when asked whether the President would be
\nwilling to receive a small group representing students. \"It
\ndepends on the President himself,\" he said without elaborating.<\/p>\n
But Noer Iskandar al-Barsany, deputy chairman of the lawmaking
\nbody of Moslem group Nadhlatul Ulama, considered such a dialog a
\nvery practical proposal.<\/p>\n
\"It would be quite ethical for the President to hold a dialog
\nbecause he is there because of the people and for the people,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
He warned, however, that students should be well prepared and
\npresent practical and well-thought out concepts if they wished to
\nenter into such a dialog.<\/p>\n
Rally<\/p>\n
At a student rally at Driyarkara Philosophy Institute here
\nyesterday, noted observer Franz Magnis Suseno urged the
\ngovernment to take note of the students' desire for economic and
\npolitical reform.<\/p>\n
He called for expediency and firm action in resolving the
\ncrisis that has tormented the whole population.<\/p>\n
More than 100 students and several institute lecturers
\nparticipated in the rally.<\/p>\n
Mudji Sutrisno, a lecturer attending the rally, called for a
\nreturn to a more faithful form of democracy.<\/p>\n
\"Indonesia should go back to the embryonic roots where
\ndemocracy is applied consistently and the supremacy of the law is
\nrespected,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Students protests have occurred in cities across the country,
\nwith participants demanding the government lowers the rising
\nprices of basic commodities and carries out political and
\neconomic reforms to end the crisis.<\/p>\n
On-campus rallies also took place in Central Java yesterday.<\/p>\n
About 250 students from the Veteran Industrial Technology
\nAcademy and the state-run Diponegoro University held free-speech
\nforums on their campuses in Semarang.<\/p>\n
They also urged the government to quickly take bold action to
\nresolve the monetary turmoil.<\/p>\n
In Salatiga, about 100 students from the state-run Islamic
\nInstitute held a gathering which included speeches about the
\ncrisis, poetry reading and mass prayers.<\/p>\n
In Purwokerto, hundreds of students at Soedirman University
\ngathered to decry what they described as the degradation of state
\nofficials' morality. (rms\/har\/09\/45)<\/p>",
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