Former activists frustated by lack of reform

Former activists frustated by lack of reform

Ahmad Junaidi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Former student activists who took part in rallies that
contributed to the forced resignation of authoritarian president
Soeharto four years ago, expressed on Sunday their disappointment
with the result of the reform process.

Interviewed separately on Sunday, Raymond Sinaga, a founder of
the City Forum (Forkot) student organization, Juli Hantoro of the
University of Indonesia and Adi Purna Binarta of the private
Trisakti University claimed that reform brought no benefits to
the public.

"It's disappointing that reform created 'new thieves' who took
advantage after the downfall of Soeharto," said Raymond, who in
1998 was an electrical engineering student at the National
Institute of Science and Technology (ISTN).

He claimed the "new thieves" currently held positions in the
House of Representatives, the People's Consultative Assembly and
the current government.

Besides the "new thieves", he said the "old thieves" or
corruptors in the new order era of Soeharto still maintained
positions in the government, legislative bodies and the
judiciary.

"So, only a few people from the New Order have resigned while
many of them are still going strong," said Raymond, who now works
at Concern, a political and economic journal, which was founded
by political analyst Hermawan Sulistyo.

Juli Hantoro agreed with Raymond, saying that the students'
reform demand, mainly amendment to the Constitution and the
abolition of the Indonesian Military's (TNI) dual role, seemed to
have fizzled out.

"They (the government and legislative bodies) no longer pay
attention to the people and students. They should realize that
they have their current positions only because of the
demonstrations held by students that were supported by the
general public," Juli, who now works as a journalist at Koran
Tempo daily, said.

He said amendments to the Constitution were rejected by many
legislators, mainly from the Indonesian Democratic Party of
Struggle (PDI Perjuangan), the largest party in the House.

He also criticized the advancement of TNI's role, which could
be seen through, among other things, the establishment of a
military command in Aceh earlier this year.

"President Megawati cannot control the military and, even
worse, is afraid of it," Juli said, referring to President
Megawati Soekarnoputri, who is also chairwoman of PDI
Perjuangaan.

Meanwhile, Adi Purna Binarta said the government under
Megawati and former president Abdurrahman Wahid displayed no
strong commitment to uncover human rights violations, mainly
committed by the TNI.

"Until now there has been no satisfactory solution to the
bloody Trisakti tragedy, or the Semanggi I and Semanggi II
shooting incidents," Adi, a 1998 spokesman of the Trisakti
Student Senate, said.

Four Trisakti students were shot dead on their campus on Jl.
Kyai Tapa, West Jakarta, on May 12, 1998. The shooting was
followed by massive riots on May 13 and May 14 in Jakarta and
across the country, in which hundreds of people, mainly Chinese-
Indonesians, were killed.

The shootings and riots contributed to the forced resignation
of Soeharto on May 21, 1998. Vice president B.J. Habibie, who
then replaced Soeharto, could not stop the student rallies.

Some 11 people, mostly students from various universities in
Jakarta, were shot dead in rallies at the Semanggi cloverleaf on
Nov. 13, 1998 and on Sept. 24, 1999.

Raymond, Juli and Adi agreed that student demonstrations were
still needed to demand improvements in the country.

Raymond and Juli suggested a revolution was necessary because
the reform movement was no longer useful, but Adi disagreed,
saying the cost to the public would be too high.