Four students killed at Trisakti rally

JAKARTA (JP): At least four students of Trisakti University were killed during an antigovernment rally in West Jakarta yesterday evening.

RCTI last night reported six dead but gave no names.

The bodies of four victims were laid at the Sumber Waras emergency unit in the early evening. They were identified as Hendrawan, an economics student; Hafidin Royadi, a civil engineering student; Heri Hartanto, a machine engineering student; and Elang Mulya Lesmana, an architecture student.

Student leaders said the number of casualties were higher.

Medical staff at Sumber Waras Hospital, where the four bodies were admitted, refused to reveal the causes of their death. Police denied any fatalities occurred during the incident.

Witnesses said shots were fired during the rally.

Reporters from The Jakarta Post saw the dead bodies at the hospital's emergency unit and learned that Hendrawan was shot in the neck and Hafidin in the head, while both Heri and Elang were shot in the lower abdomen.

All of the victims were in their early 20s and had entered the university, widely known for its high tuition, between two and three years ago.

"It's very cruel. It's very sad and it makes me very angry," said Adi Andojo Soetjipto, a former justice who is dean of Trisakti's school of law and earlier joined yesterday's rally before the incident occurred.

Judging from blood stains found at a building inside the campus, "the students were shot while inside the campus grounds", he said.

"We'll immediately send a strong protest to the National Police chief and the minister of defense," Adi told reporters.

He added that the students were attacked for no clear reason because the protesters did not provoke the security forces.

An eyewitness, Edwil Susandy of the school of mineral technology, told reporters at the scene of the killings last night that there were no warning shots.

According to Edwil, there were five victims killed, 13 injured and 17 missing in the incident. He identified the other dead victim as Alan, an economics student.

But the whereabouts of Alan was still a mystery as of late last night.

A university administration official, Stef Vawolangi, said he saw students being shot at. He said he did not know if rubber bullets or live rounds of ammunition had been used.

Eyewitnesses said the troopers were attired in dark uniforms and purple berets.

When asked to comment on the incident, Jakarta Military Command spokesman Lt. Col. DJ Nachrowi refused to respond.

City Police spokesman Lt. Col. E. Aritonang, who was at the site, insisted that there were no deaths.

But he said the victims were possibly trampled to death by their fellow protesters when they were dispersed by security forces.

"I've questioned four students, who supported my analysis," he said.

Adi said Elang's remain would be brought to his home town in Bandung, West Java, to be buried.

Trisakti student leaders were still meeting by last night to discuss funeral arrangements for the other victims.

According to Edwil, the rally started with a free-speech forum attended by 10,000 students at 10 a.m. on the Trisakti campus.

Two hours later, the crowd attempted to march to the House of Representatives building on Jl. Gatot Subroto, some five kilometers away, he said.

But they were blocked by a strong contingent of security forces in front of their campus on Jl. S. Parman.

"We then conducted a sit-in protest until half past two," Edwil said.

"When we started to go back into the campus, there were suddenly shots fired at us," he said.

Shocked grief filled Sumber Waras last night as relatives and friends of the victims packed into the hospital.

Elang's mother, Yoga, refused to see the body of her son.

She cried hysterically for hours in front of the emergency room.

Other people rushed to the university looking for their relatives.

A woman, identified as Rini, came with three projectiles in her hand and swore revenge if anything happened to her son, R. Dwi Wibowo, an economics student.

Noisy protests demanding reform also took place at several other universities here, including Mpu Tantular University, Jayabaya University, Indonesian Maritime Academy (AMI), Indonesian Management Secretarial Academy (ASMI) in East Jakarta and Indonesia Christian University (UKI) in Central Jakarta.

No violent clashes were reported in these rallies which involved thousands of students since they were cordoned off immediately by strong security forces.

Besides protesting last week's fuel price increases, students demanded a new national leadership, a cabinet reshuffle and quicker economic and political reforms. (byg/edt/ivy/aan/jun)