ABRI's dual role, Soeharto target of student protests

ABRI's dual role, Soeharto target of student protests

JAKARTA (JP): Students across the country on Monday piled
various pressures on the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) on
the eve of its Special Session.

In their sporadic rallies, the students renewed their demands
for the Assembly to scrap the Armed Forces (ABRI) privileges of
playing both defense and sociopolitical roles and to try former
president Soeharto whom they accused of power abuses over 32
years.

There were supporters of a successful MPR session -- albeit
far outnumbered by the opposing group -- in Mataram, West Nusa
Tenggara, and Padang, West Sumatra, where hundreds of students,
local government officials, political party activists and
religious leaders gathered to pledge their help in making the
event proceed safely.

Minor clashes were reported in the East Java capital of
Surabaya, when around 200 students from various universities and
organizations grouped in the Surabaya People's Action tried to
force their way into the Granadi Hall gubernatorial office.

No casualties were reported as security forces, made up of
police, Army and Air Force troops, kept the students at bay.

The protesters blocked Jl. Gubernur Suryo, causing heavy
traffic jams on the city's main street as well as nearby roads.

They also warned the public of possible conflicts among
civilians and called for the establishment of a presidium to
guide the country to a democratic state.

Elsewhere in Padang, some 5,000 students from 12 universities
across West Sumatra rallied at the gubernatorial office compound.
In the petition called the "Andalas Declaration", the students
reminded legislators in the Assembly to stick to the reform
agenda.

The petition included mention of the termination of ABRI's
dual function doctrine.

"Although those legislators are part of the New Order regime,
we give them one last chance. If they fail to heed these popular
demands, we will hold bigger rallies to oppose the outcome of the
Special Session," warned Taufik, a leader of the student group.

Another huge rally was jointly organized by students and a
farmers' group in Lampung. Antara news agency reported that shops
and markets were closed when the crowd, numbering no less than
5,000, marched to the gubernatorial office in Bandar Lampung
downtown.

Loaded with people, tens of trucks and buses were seen
entering the Unila state university campus, the starting point of
the rally, in the morning.

Hundreds of fully armed troops stood on alert during the
march, but no clashes occurred.

Yogyakarta also woke up to demonstrations as two Moslem
student groups took to the street in separate batches but an
equal stance against the ABRI's dual roles and the political laws
that require all mass organizations to acknowledge the state
ideology Pancasila in their statutes.

Hundreds of activists of the breakaway Indonesian Moslem
Students (HMI-MPO) held a 1.5-kilometer march from a roundabout
near Gadjah Mada University to state radio RRI station. They
asked the radio to air their demands live but the station
resisted. Both finally agreed to broadcast the demands later in
the day.

The other group of students calling themselves the Indonesian
Moslem Students Movement (KAMMI) staged their rally at the
provincial legislative body. They chanted praises for Prophet
Muhammad along the way from Syuhada Mosque to the legislature
compound.

The provincial legislators refused to meet the crowd and asked
them to send their representatives to read out their demands.

After a few hours of rallying, the students dispersed in an
orderly manner around noon.

In Purwokerto, Central Java, local legislators welcomed
hundreds of students after three hours of a free speech forum
against ABRI's presence in the House of Representatives and in
support of just and fair elections as well as the trial of former
president Soeharto. "Terminate ABRI's dual functions and return
ABRI to the people," read one banner.

Other rallies were also reported in Bandung and Semarang.

In Semarang, as hundreds of students calling themselves the
Students Movement for Justice demonstrated in Semarang to demand
Soeharto be put on trial and the removal of ABRI's privileges,
hundreds of others went to the local legislature to support the
Special Session.

In their statement the pro-MPR session group warned people
against violence during the four-day event to be held in Jakarta.

"Different opinions are okay, but never spark clashes among
civilians. Violence and conflicts will only pave the way for
another authoritarian government, perhaps a more repressive one
than the New Order," said Subagyo, coordinator of the joint
rally. (45/28/23/44/swa/nur/har/amd)