BEM UI Refuses to Relocate Protest to Parliament, Insists on Bundaran HI
Hundreds of students and representatives of the University of Indonesia Student Executive Board (BEM UI) attempting to join a protest today (12/6) at the Bundaran Hotel Indonesia (HI) reported being obstructed from reaching the demonstration site. They claimed that authorities closed access in the Semanggi area and directed the protest to move to the front of the DPR/MPR Building.
Chairman of the BEM Faculty of Law UI, Anandaku Dimas Rumi Chattaristo, said the student contingent was currently held up around the TVRI area and performing Friday prayers after their attempt to reach Bundaran Hotel Indonesia (HI) failed. According to Dimas, the group departed from Depok using 14 buses with around 700 participants. They took a route through Lenteng Agung towards Pancoran before continuing to the Semanggi area.
However, upon arriving near Polda Metro Jaya, the route that should have been used to reach Jalan Jenderal Sudirman was reportedly closed. He stated that the students had previously submitted a notice of the action to the police and announced the demonstration point publicly via social media. “We have tried to convey that we have given a notice letter for the action, and we have also publicised everything on social media regarding the action point and so on, but we are being forced to move to the front of the DPR/MPR building,” said Dimas.
He admitted he did not receive a clear explanation regarding the reason for the access closure. According to him, when students asked for the road to be opened, officers did not provide information on the basis for the policy of diverting the crowd to the DPR/MPR area. The situation on the ground became heated when students tried to request access be opened. Dimas mentioned there was pushing and shoving between the crowd and officers because the contingent still wanted to continue the journey according to the original plan.
The access closure, he continued, was carried out at several Semanggi junction points using various security means, ranging from barriers and water barriers to tactical vehicles. Despite this, UI students insisted they would not change the previously determined action location. For them, Bundaran HI was chosen as the demonstration point because it is considered to have symbolic meaning for their disappointment with the government and the DPR.
“From our side, so far we agree that we will not move the action point, because the selection of the action point at Bundaran HI was based on our disappointment with the DPR and the President, who basically no longer care about the people themselves,” said Dimas. He stressed that the protest crowd would continue trying to reach Bundaran Hotel Indonesia (HI) and hoped the police would open road access so students could exercise their constitutional right to express opinions in public. “We will definitely continue to try to get to Bundaran HI and we also hope the police will be willing to open the road and not interfere with our constitutional right to express opinions,” he said.
In addition to protest participants travelling by bus, Dimas did not rule out the possibility of other UI students heading to the action location independently, including using the electric commuter train (KRL). According to him, the action is collective and open to all students who wish to participate. “We are collecting data, we are facilitating, but we are not preventing anyone from joining this action,” he concluded.