Clashes, detentions mar protests

JAKARTA (JP): Police briefly detained 40 student protesters here yesterday while four others in Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, were slightly injured as clashes between students and security personnel continued in some parts of the country.

Police also confirmed Friday that one student was shot in a violent demonstration Friday in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra. During the demonstration, protesters threw Molotov cocktails at riot police who responded by firing tear gas and rubber bullets.

North Sumatra Police spokesman Lt. Col. Amrin Karim threatened Thursday to punish any officers who had fired at student protesters.

"We are still investigating who the shooter was. Shooting is not allowed at all in facing student demonstrations. It is an instruction from the National Police chief," Amrin said.

Ronalson Siahaan, a student of the Medan Institute of Technology (ITM), allegedly suffered a gunshot wound to his left hand from a police officer after students fiercely tried to break up a police cordon blocking their way as they attempted to march off their campus and onto the streets.

Two other students, Rudi Sarman Pasaribu and Asrul Aziz, were reportedly still missing after being beaten by police officers in the clash, according to Kompas.

This was the first shooting incident since students earnestly began staging protests two months ago against the economic crisis and the government's handling of situation.

Thousands of North Sumatra Islamic University (UISU) and state-run North Sumatra University (USU) students yesterday staged separate protests against the shooting and demanded that police return their missing friends.

Elsewhere, police stepped up their efforts yesterday to contain student rallies which have become increasingly bolder with repeated attempts at bringing their protests onto the streets in defiance of a police ban.

In the West Java city of Bogor, 5,000 students held a free forum at the Bogor Institute of Agriculture, during which they criticized the government's handling of the economic crisis.

They also demanded economic and political reforms, sang the national anthem and lowered the national flag to half mast to signify their mourning over the crisis. Some also attempted to climb over campus fences to move the rally onto the street, but were prevented from doing so by nearby security personnel.

In Bandung, 1,500 students and new graduates of the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) held a free speech forum in front of the Sukarno monument after attending a graduation ceremony. Sukarno, the country's first president, was an ITB graduate. Uniformed security officers closely watched the students.

Forty Ibnu Chaldun University students in Jakarta were questioned by police yesterday for disturbing order when they brought their rally onto the streets to burn a mock coffin.

"They were briefly questioned, but they were not detained. We will soon send their dossiers to court," City Police spokesman Lt. Col. Aritonang said yesterday.

In Mataram, West Nusa Tenggara, three students as well as a passerby were injured in a clash with antiriot personnel after angry students threw stones at them for not allowing them to hold their rally off-campus.

In Surabaya, the capital of East Java, four Wijaya Kusuma students continued their hunger strike, which reached its third day yesterday, to pressure the government to launch political and economic reforms.

There have been hunger strike reports in the past, but students have usually given up such protests after a few days, arguing they would use more effective ways to channel their protests.

In Semarang, the capital of Central Java, Minister of Justice Muladi praised students for showing through their demonstrations that they cared about the country's economic hardships. He was quoted by Antara as saying that current demonstrations were strong evidence that the learning process on Indonesian campuses was quite successful.

Muladi, also rector of Diponegoro University in Semarang, however, assured students that the government was not deaf to their demands and that officials would work hard to resolve the country's crisis.

"Coordinating Minister for Economy, Finance and Industry Ginandjar Kartasasmita works every day until as late as midnight," Muladi told students during a brief dialog. (21/edt/24/43/nur/prb)