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)