Injured student in critical condition

JAKARTA (JP): Steven Suripatty, the university student who was shoot by soldiers on Friday during a clash with demonstrators in Jayapura, Irian Jaya, remained in a coma yesterday as community leaders strongly condemned the irresponsible actions of the military personnel responsible.

Dr J. Oyong, head of the general hospital in Jayapura, said the law student remained in a critical condition after undergoing an operation.

He was shot just below his left ear and is now under close observation in the intensive care ward.

Steven's parents live in Kaimana, about 900 kilometers southwest of Jayapura, and are expected to arrive here today.

Meanwhile, high school student Korina Onim was reportedly making good progress following an operation on the bullet wound she suffered to her leg.

According to Antara, the incident occurred when students were holding a protest rally in front of the Cendrawasih University on Friday.

A military intelligence officer was apparently caught trying to infiltrate the student crowd and beaten up.

In the ensuing melee, soldiers standing guard at a distance fired shots to ward off the students.

It is unclear how Korina was wounded because she was standing 500 meters away in the Theological School grounds.

The intelligence officer, Sgt. Dahlan, also remained in hospital yesterday.

Despite a prompt apology and a promise from the Jayapura Military Commander Col. Josef Samuel to conduct a full investigation into the incident and bring those responsible to justice, criticism of the military's flagrant use of firearms against the students poured in yesterday.

The head of the Irian Jaya Community Foundation, Theis Eluay, strongly condemned the shooting.

"The weapons used were purchased with taxpayers money and are supposed to be used to protect the citizens of the country, not to kill them," Eluay remarked in Jayapura yesterday.

The University's deputy rector Daan Dimara said that an independent investigation team would be formed by a number of non-governmental organizations grouped under an umbrella organization called the Cooperation Forum.

The team would be formed as soon as approval was obtained from Rector Frans Wospakrik, who was expected to return from an out of town trip today, he added.

"I think we can start the process of forming the fact-finding team on Tuesday," Daan said. (mds)