Golkar deplores students demo

Golkar deplores students demo

SEMARANG: Golkar deplored students from a local Islamic
university on Tuesday for conducting a rowdy demonstration, which
included burning the party's flags.

"They are free to despise Golkar, but they cannot show it by
that kind of demonstration and burning Golkar's flags. It is an
insult to us," Hartoyo Abdullah, chief of the party's faction in
the legislative council, said.

About 150 students from the Walisongo State Academy of Islamic
Studies (IAIN) participated in a protest on Monday, calling for
Golkar's dissolution and for a purge of Golkar elements within
the provincial administration.

The students said they doubted Golkar's reform credentials
because the party was responsible for the country's current woes.

Hartoyo said the students should not have been so easily
provoked.

"I believe the students were simply following orders from a
puppet master. What is the strength of hundreds of students
compared to the millions who voted for us," he said. (har/bby)