Highly protested student regiments to stay: Minister

Highly protested student regiments to stay: Minister

JAKARTA (JP): The much protested university student regiments
will be retained but their existence will be reviewed in view of
the controversy, the government said yesterday.

Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security
Soesilo Soedarman convened a special meeting with ministers under
his charge at his office yesterday to discuss the future of the
regiments, popularly known as Resimen Mahasiswa or Menwa for
short.

The meeting concluded that the regiment is still necessary,
"although reviews need to be made on the government regulation
which oversees their existence", said a statement issued after
the meeting.

The recruitment process, training, line of command and the
duty, purpose and activities of Menwa will all be reviewed.

The meeting was attended by Ministers of Home Affairs Moch.
Yogie S.M., Defense and Security Gen. Edi Sudradjat, Education
and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro, State Minister of
Administrative Reforms T.B. Silalahi, Armed Forces Chief Feisal
Tanjung and officials of the State Intelligence Coordinating
Agency and the National Resilience Institute.

The meeting commissioned a working group to review the 1978
joint decree on Menwa and present its report by the end of this
month so the new regulation can be implemented in time for the
1995-1996 academic year.

Menwa was established by joint decree by the ministers of
defense and security, education and culture and home affairs. Its
existence is seen as part and parcel of the national total
people's defense concept.

The reputation of Menwa has been marred lately as certain
members from the regiments throughout the country have acted in
behavior considered "excessive", "arrogant" and even "more
military-like than the army" by their fellow students.

Brawls

Menwa members have been involved in brawls at several
universities with fellow students who are not members of the
regiment. The most recent brawls occurred in Jakarta's National
University and Surabaya's 17 Augustus 1945 University.

Minister Wardiman, in response to concerned calls from House
members several months ago, said such excessive actions should be
dealt with on a case by case basis.

As the ministers yesterday met to review the future of Menwa,
students in Semarang and Bandung held protests demanding that the
government dismantle the regiments once and for all.

In Semarang, 200 students held a rally at the State Institute
for Islamic Studies (IAIN), rejecting the presence of Menwa in
their campus.

They said Menwa activities were now no longer scientific but
were instead physically abusive.

Menwa's actions, the protesters said, have "swept the campus
with blood". The protesters demanded for a dismantling of Menwa
in all universities, the revocation of the joint government
regulation on Menwa and trials on student regiment members
involved in criminal actions.

In Bandung, hundreds of students from universities around the
area yesterday joined in a similar protest on the campus grounds
of the Sunan Gunung Djati IAIN.

Some 10 students took turns speaking in front of the group to
explain the abusive treatment they have received from Menwa
members.

Although they insisted they did not ask student regiments to
be repealed, they requested "several corrections so Menwa members
do not feel they have power over their fellow students".
(har/pet/pwn)