ABRI says protests border on anarchy

ABRI says protests border on anarchy

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Defense/Armed Forces Commander Gen.
Wiranto warned yesterday that the military would clamp down hard
on student protesters who take their demonstrations off campus.

Gen. Wiranto told journalists after meeting President Soeharto
at the Bina Graha presidential office that on a number of recent
occasions when protests moved outside the campuses the result was
anarchy, causing injuries and destruction of property.

He cited the unrest in Medan, North Sumatra, on Saturday where
students clashed with security forces.

"This is proof that the moment students leave their campuses
their protests become uncontrollable," and added that students
risked being infiltrated by agitators.

"I have ordered all regional military commanders to take stern
action to prevent anarchy, as happened in Medan," Wiranto said.
"I have ordered the commanders to take stern action against
offenders who destroy property."

Many of the protests in Medan have turned violent in recent
days after students forced their way out of their campuses,
breaking the military cordon. On Saturday, students set fire to
cars and threw Molotov cocktails and pelted the security forces
with stones.

Wiranto said students were supposed to be intellectuals but
these qualities became doubtful if they destroyed shops, set
fires to vehicles and threw bombs and bricks at security
officers.

"There is nothing intellectual in such behavior," he said.

The military always considers students as the nation's future
leaders, not enemies, said Wiranto, who initiated a dialog with
students last month in an attempt to defuse tension.

Students should not take their protests to the streets, he
said. "We want the students to remain on campus to avoid the
possibility of being manipulated."

We have put our officers around the campuses to prevent the
students from being infiltrated from outside, he said. This noble
gesture was often misinterpreted.

Campus protests have been growing in recent weeks as Indonesia
endures its worst economic slump since the 1960s. Thousands of
students have staged almost daily rallies, calling for the
lowering of prices and sweeping political reforms.

Dozens of university students visited the National Commission
on Human Rights office yesterday to file a complaint over what
they perceived as repressive measures taken by the military
during their protests on Saturday.

The students, from various private and state universities in
Greater Jakarta, brought bullet shells, photographs and a video
recording to prove their case.

The students were received by commission members Albert
Hasibuan, Clementino dos Reis Amaral, M. Salim, and Soegiri.

Students said they were involved in clashes with security
officers when they tried to take their protests onto the streets.

Dozens of protesters were injured in the clashes, six of them
wounded by rubber bullets, and rushed to hospitals.

Separately, four major student organizations -- the
Association of Moslem Students, the Association of Indonesian
Catholic Students, the Indonesian National Students' Movement,
and the Indonesian Christian Students' Movement -- also demanded
a public apology from Gen. Wiranto for the military's handling of
the protests at the weekend.

Two students -- Benny Rhamdani from the Sam Ratulangi
University in Manado and Wahab Talaohu from the Jakarta
University -- began a hunger strike at the Foundation of the
Indonesian Legal Aid Institute office yesterday to protest the
military's forceful action against the students in Jakarta.

House Speaker Harmoko called on the government yesterday to
respond positively to the students' calls for reform.

"The people's increasingly critical stance over the
government's performance and policies should be seen as one of
the results of the country's development programs, especially
over the people's political education," Harmoko said at a plenary
meeting of the House to kick off a new series of hearings.
(prb/imn/byg)