Aceh students stage protest for referendum

Aceh students stage protest for referendum

JAKARTA (JP): Hundreds of university and senior high school
students took to the streets of Lhokseumawe in Aceh on Tuesday to
protest the tearing down of street banners demanding a
referendum.

Their protest occurred as a group of 19 Acehnese leaders
warned President B.J. Habibie in Jakarta to keep his promise to
punish human rights violators in the troubled province.

Liliwangsa Military Commander Col. Johnny Wahab said the
students were outraged because unidentified military officers
tore down the banners on Monday night despite his earlier
assurance to students their activities would not be disturbed.

"Their banners have been replaced. Posters demanding a
referendum are not against the law because actually they are
merely asking for a kind of general election," Johnny told The
Jakarta Post in a telephone interview.

He said there were no arrests. However, he said the military
found indications that groups like the Free Aceh Movement were
attempting to provoke students. Members of the groups have been
arrested, Johnny said without elaborating.

Separately, chairman of Aceh Students Coalition for Reforms
(Karma) Muhammad Saleh said the protest was part of the students'
campaigns to press their demand for referendum and to force the
military to stop human rights abuses.

Saleh, who told Habibie last month not to voice empty promises
for Aceh, said the students planned to build at least one
coordination post in each of the province's 78 districts.

"The purpose is to familiarize the referendum and to monitor
the violations of human rights, and we will employ two students
at each post," Saleh said.

He said the Acehnese were enthusiastic about the plan and were
contributing to building the posts.

Separately, Usman Hasan, Habibie's chief advisor on the
province, said the Acehnese would only forgive the government if
the President fulfilled his pledge to completely settle
grievances from the 10-year military operation in the province.

"If legal action against human rights violators during the
military operation is not launched, all that has been done
physically will be meaningless," Usman said after meeting with
Habibie at Merdeka Palace.

During a March 26 visit to Aceh, Habibie held a dialog with
about 2,000 people at Baiturrahman Mosque in Banda Aceh.

Many demands were made on the government during the meeting
and students demanded a referendum. Habibie apologized for human
rights abuses during the military operations from 1989 to 1998,
and promised to punish any military officers found guilty of
atrocities. He also promised to compensate victims.

Other pledges included repairing the province's railways,
modernizing the former free port of Sabang and the reburial of
victims of military operations.

Habibie stated that the People's Consultative Assembly had the
final say on the referendum demand.

"People are still demanding referendum but they also are
realistic," said Usman, a former Golkar deputy chairman.

According to the latest government data, 1,021 were killed,
864 are listed as missing and 1,376 were widowed in the period of
military operations. Also 680 houses were burned down.

There were 405 deaths in Pidie, 346 in North Aceh and 270 in
East Aceh.

"We told him (Habibie) that... the people of Aceh are
awaiting the realization of what he promised at Baiturrahman,"
Usman said.

Chairman of Aceh's Muslim Students Association (HMI) Saleh
said students initially were emotional and wanted to boycott the
general election in June.

"But now they see elections as one of the possible ways out
for our problem," said Saleh, who was also present at the meeting
with Habibie on Tuesday. (prb)