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)