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)