Four photographers, dozens of students injured in clash
Four photographers, dozens of students injured in clash
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Four photographers and dozens of student activists were injured
in a clash between protesting students and police officers during
a demonstration at the front gate of the House of Representatives
(DPR) here on Monday.
Some 300 students staged the demonstration in a bid to
pressure the House to form a committee of inquiry to probe a Rp
40 billion scandal at the State Logistics Agency (Bulog),
allegedly involving House Speaker and Golkar chairman Akbar
Tandjung.
As expected, a majority of legislators failed to back the
proposal to form a transparent inquiry into the Rp 40 billion
Bulog scandal.
The largest faction in the House, the Indonesian Democratic
Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) faction with 153 seats, played
a major role in the rejection of the move to set up an inquiry.
Upon hearing that the House had failed to institute a
committee of inquiry, the students tried to enter the House
compound to lodge a direct protest with legislators, but were
blocked by police.
The police and the students pushed and shoved each other, and
eventually a short brawl erupted in which four photographers were
beaten by police officials.
Two police water cannon were used to disperse the protesters.
After the clash, the students moved to the Merdeka Palace to
protest against President Megawati Soekarnoputri and Vice
President Hamzah Haz for failing to uphold the reform agenda.
Rico Marbun of the University of Indonesia (UI) vowed he would
consolidate with student activists from other universities to
monitor if the reform agenda were being implemented.
"We will keep on protesting until the annual session in
August," Rico told the press.
He claimed that 15 protesters were injured, but he did not
identify the students involved.
During their protest outside the Merdeka Palace, the students
urged Megawati and Hamzah to resign on account of their inability
to live up to the reform agenda.
They said the failure of Megawati and her Indonesian
Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI Perjuangan) to support the
proposal to establish the inquiry committee was a betrayal of the
reform movement.
The students also urged People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)
Speaker Amien Rais and House Speaker Akbar Tandjung to step down,
saying that both leaders were "political clowns".
The protesters buried posters featuring the four leaders --
Megawati, Hamzah, Amien and Akbar -- outside the Merdeka Palace.
Meanwhile, the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI)
called for a thorough investigation into the incident that
injured four photographers.
The four photographers were Indra Shalihin from the detik.com
internet news portal, Cahyo Paksi Priambodo from the Sinar
Harapan afternoon daily, Saptono from the Antara news agency and
M. Sholeh from the Media Indonesia daily.
"We urge the Jakarta Police chief to investigate this
incident. Violence against journalists will never end if the
brutality of police officers isn't punished," AJI's Jakarta
chapter advocacy coordinator, Bayu Wicaksono, said in a
statement.
Monday's attack on photographers by the police came just a few
days after police in Sidoarjo regency in East Java beat up a
reporter from the Kompas daily while the latter was covering a
demonstration by workers of a factory belonging to PT Maspion in
the area.
The police have arrested seven police officers suspected of
beating up the reporter, Wisnu Dewabrata.