Hunger strikers vow to go the distance
Hunger strikers vow to go the distance
JAKARTA (JP): Students conducting a hunger strike at the
parking lot of the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas
HAM) office vowed on Tuesday to continue with their action until
their detained colleagues were released by the police.
"It doesn't matter how long it takes. If we have to, we will
get into the Guinness Book of Records for the longest hunger
strike," Yoki Febriansyah of the Bandung Institute of Computer
Science and Information told reporters.
It is not certain what is the record for a hunger strike or
whether the Guinness Book of Records has such a category anyway.
Yoki joined the hunger strike on Monday to take up where some
of his colleagues had left off, either because they had become
too ill or decided they could not go on.
As of Tuesday afternoon, 10 students were still taking part in
the action, including three of the original six hunger strikers
who had participated since June 29.
The students were demanding the release of three colleagues
who were detained on June 19 by the police, following a violent
street protest in Ciputat, south of Jakarta, against the 30
percent hike in domestic fuel prices.
Their demands have largely been ignored by the authorities.
The police, who arrested them on grounds of inciting violence,
passed the dossiers of Mixil Mina Munir, Haris and Miftahuddin to
the prosecutors' office.
The students on hunger strike were still drinking water and
sweet tea, mostly administered by friends who have kept vigil
outside the tent set up at the Komnas HAM parking lot.
One of the most determined hunger strikers is Mona, who
returned to the tent on Monday only three days after she fainted
and was rushed to a nearby hospital.
Still looking exhausted and weak, the student from the
Nasional University defiantly said, "I don't feel I'm at my best,
but I'm not finished yet."
Syarifuddin, a student from the Institute of Social and
Political Science (IISIP), was the latest casualty. He was taken
to the Sultan Agung Hospital on Saturday.
His place was quickly taken by Ersad from the Jakarta
Institute of Management and Informatics.
Two other students from Bandung joined the strike on Monday to
replace two who quit on Sunday. They are Yoki and Naga Sintana
from Pasundan University.(06)