Clashes mar celebrations of Human Rights Day

Clashes mar celebrations of Human Rights Day

BANDUNG, West Java (JP): Hundreds of students celebrating World
Human Rights Day Saturday clashed with security forces who
stopped them from marching down the street.

Security officers in anti-riot gear sealed the campus of
Bandung Islam University where the liveliest celebration took
place.

Students trying to force their way out were clubbed with
rattan sticks while two journalists mistaken for protesters were
also hit, eyewitnesses said.

One officer, Second Lt. Abdul Muis, was injured by a flying
stone hurled from the student crowd during the tumult, though no
one was arrested, police said.

The human rights day was also celebrated at Bandung's Pasundan
University and the State Institute for Islamic Studies (IAIN),
where no incidents were reported.

In the three universities, student activists took to the
podium to raise numerous human rights violations they said were
rife in numerous places both in Indonesia and abroad.

Issues in Indonesia they raised included the June closing of
three Jakarta-based weeklies, the numerous labor disputes that
have stemmed from the denial of workers' rights and the situation
in East Timor.

The students unfurled banners in which they expressed their
concern over the abuses of human rights worldwide. They also sang
songs and read poems protesting the practices.

At Bandung Islamic University, tension developed after the
students were disappointed about the absence of Baharuddin Lopa,
the secretary general of the National Commission on Human Rights
they had originally invited.

"He (Lopa) couldn't show up because he had something else to
do," the celebration committee chairman Imam said.

Chief of the Central Bandung police precinct, Lt. Col. Ade
Rahardja, said that the students' throwing stones at the security
officers amounted to criminal behavior.

"The student act was beyond the tolerable limit. It's a
criminal act," he said.

Student sources said the police "picked up" three students for
questioning who were later released. Imam Rusydi, one of those
questioned, said they saw the injured Muis in the hospital.

Imam said that at the hospital, Lt. Col. Ade pointed at Muis
and told the students: "Look what you guys have done to him".

Drama

In Jakarta, commemoration of World Human Rights Day was marred
by news about the cancellation of a popular play, Marsinah, which
tells the story of the labor heroine who was killed in Surabaya
last year.

The play, produced by the well-known Teater Satu Merah
Panggung, was scheduled to be performed at Taman Ismail Marzuki
but was canceled five days ahead of schedule when the committee
cited an absence of funds.

The drama, which had previously been performed in Jakarta,
Bandung and Surakarta, was scheduled to go on stage from Dec. 13
and 14.

Play director Ratna Sarumpaet told Antara that the Indonesian
Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), which sponsored the drama with 24
actors, decided to cancel it because of financial reasons.

The two-hour drama was a success and tickets were almost
always sold out for every show. Ratna said that she was flooded
with requests that it be performed again in Jakarta. (pet/pan)