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.