Activists criticize Assembly

Activists criticize Assembly

JAKARTA (JP): A group of pro-democracy activists reproached
the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) yesterday, demanding
they "return" the people's sovereignty entrusted to them since
the 1,000-member assembly has abused it for the interests of the
government.

Mulyana Kusumah, a criminologist and member of the Indonesian
Legal Aid and Human Rights Association, said the MPR had lost its
legitimacy as the highest state institution representing the
people because it could not prevent the government from
committing what he said were violations of the 1945 Constitution.

The Assembly has abused the sovereignty it received from the
people and has been a tool for the government to maintain the
status quo, he said in a discussion at the Foundation of the
Indonesian Legal Aid Institute here yesterday.

The discussion was held to commemorate the first anniversary
of the National Committee for Democratic Struggle (KNPD), a group
affiliated to the People's Democratic Party.

Three members of KNPD are currently in police detention. They
are Faisol Riza and Rahardjo Waluyo Djati, both of the University
of Gadjah Mada in Yogyakarta and Herman Hendrawan, a student at
Airlangga University in Surabaya, East Java.

Mulyana charged that the New Order government, in its 32 years
of national development, had created a widening social disparity
in society.

He said that it was time "for the people to take action" to
form a clean government and uphold democracy and law in the
country.

"People's power is needed to strengthen the student movement
to demand total reform even if it means paying a high price," he
said.

Soothsayer Permadi concurred with Mulyana, saying that
sovereignty needed to be returned to the people. But he
maintained that it must be done in a peaceful manner.

"We do need people's power. We must do it peacefully and
without anarchy," he said.

Sukmawati Soekarnoputri, a daughter of former president
Sukarno, called on all students to continue their drive for
political and economic reform.

"All of us should learn from the history of our former leaders
to free the nation from colonialism. We need a peaceful movement
and political struggle to free the nation from 'a new form of
colonialism.' We should launch a peaceful movement because we
don't want to see any victims... We are facing a powerful
force," she said. (rms)