ITB alumni stage rally, activists denounce violence

ITB alumni stage rally, activists denounce violence

JAKARTA (JP): Twenty-five alumni of the Bandung Institute of
Technology (ITB) staged a street demonstration here yesterday to
demand a change in the national leadership after police barred
them from holding a news conference.

Separately, a group of 20 prominent human rights campaigners,
democracy activists and Moslem leaders issued a joint statement
urging the public to refrain from using violence to tackle the
worsening economic crisis.

ITB alumni leader Zulkarnaen said they were about to read out
a media statement in a restaurant at Taman Ismail Marzuki Art
Center, Central Jakarta, when the restaurant owner urged them to
leave because they had failed to show the necessary police
permit.

"Under the current situation, all gatherings need permits from
the security authorities," Zulkarnaen quoted the restaurant owner
as saying when asked why the meeting was banned.

The alumni, calling themselves Group 234, insisted that no
permit was needed for a media conference, but finally complied
with the police's request.

"The restaurant manager told us the fate of the place relied
on our wisdom," said Zulkarnaen, a former executive director of
the Indonesian Forum for Environment (Walhi).

More than a dozen police officers had waited at the art center
since the early morning.

The group then moved to the nearby Ismail Marzuki monument,
where they announced their vote of no confidence in President
Soeharto.

"A change of guard in the national leadership is the only way
out of the current disaster," Zulkarnaen read the statement
signed by 73 people.

They said the recent wave of ethnic, religious and ideological
conflicts had been engineered to find a scapegoat to conceal the
national leadership's failures.

Group 234 called on the nation to elect a new president in
place of 76-year-old Soeharto who has gained overwhelming support
from the People's Consultative Assembly to serve a seventh
consecutive term.

The 1,000-member Assembly is expected to endorse Soeharto's
reelection next month.

The 20 rights campaigners, democracy activists and Moslem
leaders warned in their statement that the increasing use of
violence when demanding reform would only divert public attention
from the actual goal, democracy.

They particularly warned against the exploitation of the
highly sensitive ethnic, religious, and societal issues to
justify running amok.

"To our Moslem brethren, we would like to remind you that
Islam does not allow the use of violence and tyranny against
fellow human beings," said the statement signed by lawyer Adnan
Buyung Nasution and Moslem leader Masdar F. Mas'udi.

The signatories said they people of Chinese descent, who have
become the prime target of the riots, should do their best to
help end the economic crisis and should not do "unpatriotic"
things like fleeing the country.

"Everyone should use their heads in working to end the current
crisis," the statement said. (amd/pan)