32 students fined Rp 2,500 each for disrupting traffic
32 students fined Rp 2,500 each for disrupting traffic
JAKARTA (JP): Wearing identical paper masks bearing the
smiling face of former president Soeharto, 32 University of
Indonesia students appeared at the South Jakarta District Court
on Monday to face charges of disrupting traffic.
The students, arrested during a street protest at Semanggi
cloverleaf on Friday, refused to obey presiding judge Sultan
Mangun's repeated orders to take off the white masks.
"We represent Soeharto. We demand the real Soeharto be brought
here," one of the students told the court, eliciting laughter
from the visitor's gallery.
During Friday's rally, the students used effigies of Soeharto
to demand that President B.J. Habibie try his predecessor for
alleged misdeeds during his 32-year reign.
The students' refusal to show their faces posed a difficulty
for the judge in determining their identities.
As Sultan read off the names of the defendants, individual
students raised their hands.
"I don't know if you lied or not. But God sees you. All of
your actions will be recorded in the court's dossier," Sultan
said.
The students responded by mocking his statement.
A witness, police officer Mudjiono, acknowledged he could not
identify the students with their faces masked.
"But I'm sure they are the students who conducted a rally on
Friday," Mudjiono said as he pointed to the group.
He said the students were arrested because their rally at
Semanggi cloverleaf caused a heavy traffic jam along adjoining
Jl. Gatot Subroto.
The students denied they were responsible for the congestion,
saying the presence of more than 100 police officers led to the
snarl.
Still wearing their masks and dissatisfied with the witness
and the judge, the students walked out of the courtroom.
"We do not believe in the court," one of the students shouted.
The judge continued the trial without them.
He found them guilty and handed down a sentence of Rp 2,500
each or one day in jail.
He said the students violated Article 28 of Traffic Law
No. 14/1994 and Article 510 of the Criminal Code.
During the protest on Friday, the students, attired in long
white robes, placed effigies of Soeharto around the Semanggi
cloverleaf and carried small blackboards upon which were written
various messages, including Jalan tol mahal, kantong Soeharto
tebal (Toll road rates are expensive, Soeharto's pockets are
thick).
Before making the arrests, police officers removed the
effigies, several of which were hung from trees along nearby Jl.
Sudirman.(jun)