Noisy student demos continue in many cities

Noisy student demos continue in many cities

JAKARTA (JP): Thousands of students continued with their
campaign for sweeping reforms by holding noisy demonstrations in
a number of cities, marred in one location when several
unidentified men tried to lower the national flag.

Student protests, which have been held consistently for the
past two months and showed no signs of letting up, took place
yesterday in the South Sulawesi capital of Ujungpandang, Bandung
and Bogor in West Java, Jakarta, Yogyakarta, Banjarmasin in South
Kalimantan, Padang in West Sumatra, Medan in North Sumatra and
Surabaya in East Java. All demanded an end to the economic
crisis, lower prices of essential commodities, and political and
economic reform.

In Ujungpandang alone, 10,000 students held demonstrations at
four different campuses and in Karebosi square. At the
demonstration held in the square a small group of men tried to
lower the national flag when student leaders began to deliver
fiery speeches in support of political and economic reform. They
were immediately prevented from doing so by security personnel.

Ujungpandang police chief Col. Jusuf Mangga Barani said: "If
you want to demonstrate, go ahead, but don't even try to lower
the flag without ceremony. The flag is the symbol of our nation,
it's something that we fight to honor."

Demonstrations were also held on the campuses of the State
Teachers' Training Institute, Hasanuddin University, Indonesian
Muslim University, and '45 University in the city.

In Bogor, thousands of students from Bogor Institute of
Agriculture (IPB) and fellow students from 20 other colleges in
Sumatra, Java and Bali held a peaceful rally and listened to
speeches demanding transparency in political decision making.

Organized by the Association of Indonesian Moslem Students
(KAMMI), the demonstration concluded peacefully after
participants, braving the rain, said a solemn prayer for the
safety of the nation.

A similar demonstration was held at Ibnu Chaldun University in
Bogor, where hundreds of students shouted for reform, burned
tires, raised flags at half-mast and stuck yellow flags, which
symbolize death, on the campus fence.

In Bandung, hundreds of students from Bandung Islamic
University held a demonstration on their campus which spilled
over onto Jl. Taman Sari and disrupted traffic.

Around 100 security personnel were deployed to hold back
students who barged their way on to the street. They waved
posters criticizing the government, and demanded reform and the
resignation of Minister of Education and Culture Wiranto
Arismunandar.

In Banjarmasin, a number of lecturers joined Lambung Mangkurat
University students in a peaceful but noisy demonstration.

"We want action, not words," the students proclaimed in a
poster. Another said: "King of collusion, corruption and
nepotism, don't be a blind and deaf king."

One of the lecturers told protesting students that reform must
begin "from the top", because change forced from below was a
revolution and therefore must be avoided at all cost.

In Jakarta, 100 students from the Institute of Social and
Political Sciences held a brief protest, but dispersed peacefully
when police prevented them from moving out of their campus.

Some jostling with the 100 security personnel present took
place, but did not lead to further violence. Students quarreled
among themselves over whether or not they should force their way
out of the campus.

A policeman was later heard to say to a fellow officer: "How
can these students call for reforms when they themselves quarrel
about such small problems?"

In Yogyakarta, around 200 students from Indonesian Islamic
University staged a protest on their campus on Jl. Cik Di Tiro.
They tried to take their protest to Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, the
ruler of the ancient city, who resides in a nearby palace, but
were prevented from doing so by 100 security personnel.

The students had originally planned to hold a pepe, or silent
protest, by standing under the scorching sun.

"We know the Sultan can't do anything about the economic
crisis but, for Javanese people, pepe has a profound meaning,"
one student leader said.

In Surabaya, 500 students from Wijaya Kusuma University held a
demonstration which was marked by a unique development when eight
protesters gagged themselves and began a two-day silent protest.

"The silent protest is to signify that democracy is dead
here," an ungagged student said.

The other students yelled their demands for reform. "All
students are suffering from the economic and political crisis,
that is why all students are demonstrating," one protester said.

Separately, chairman of the Sepuluh November Institute of
Technology (ITS) student body, Ja'far Amiruddin, said he was
satisfied because he had been able to interrupt Minister of
Education and Culture Wiranto Arismunandar during his speech at
the Armed Forces-sponsored dialog held in Jakarta on Saturday.

"I had to interrupt because the forum was not a briefing or an
instruction, which was how the minister was treating it," he
said, adding that he would continue to lead his friends in
demonstrations for reform.

"I am really angry because even during the dialog, the
government did not show remorse or apologize to the people for
the protracted suffering they have had to face because of the
crisis," he said.

A similar protest was held at Adhi Tama Institute of
Technology, from which students marched to the nearby Putra
Bangsa University shouting "reform or war."

In Medan, 3,000 students from North Sumatra Muhammadiyah
University held a demonstration on their campus on Jl. Mukhtar
Basyir during which they burned a mock coffin and issued a
"Declaration of the People's Suffering."

"We are facing so many crises, but the worst are the crisis of
morality, and the crisis of confidence in the government," the
declaration read. Assistant rector Muchtar Abdullah said his
office allowed students to demonstrate as long as they remained
within the confines of the campus.

In Padang, West Sumatra, some 10,000 university students
gathered at the Teachers' Training Institute to hear Moslem
leader Amien Rais address a free-speech forum. The students came
from various colleges around the province.

Some 2,000 students later marched without incident under a
heavy police guard to the provincial legislative council where
they held a second forum. (23/43/24/nur/swe/aan/30/21/swa/44)