One student dies in antimilitary protest

One student dies in antimilitary protest

JAKARTA (JP): One student was killed as sporadic rallies broke
out across the country to demand the abolition of the military's
dual function on Tuesday.

The demonstrations marred the 54th Indonesian Military (TNI)
Day, which was celebrated throughout the archipelago.

In the South Sumatera capital of Palembang, police said Mir
Adriansyah, 21, a student of the IBA private university, was
beaten to death by the crowd during the confusion when two rival
groups protested outside the regional military headquarters
there.

But students said he was stabbed to death by plain clothes
security personnel.

The death of Adriansyah brought the toll of people killed in
rallies against TNI in the past week to 11.

In Jakarta, at least 400 students grouped in the City Forum
marched down a main road towards where the People's Consultative
Assembly (MPR) was convening, to demand that the military step
back from politics.

The protesters, marching behind a huge banner that included a
demand to "reject the sociopolitical role of the military" were
stopped by a strong cordon of police and soldiers at an
underpass, some 200 meters from the gate to the Assembly.

Another 150 students massed at the busy traffic circle in
front of Hotel Indonesia where most of newly-elected MPR members
are staying.

"Reject the military in government," read one banner.

In West Java capital of Bandung, thousands of students paraded
an effigy of TNI Commander Gen. Wiranto at the campus of the
state Bandung Institute of Technology before marching off
downtown, making a brief stop at the provincial legislative
council.

The students, from at least three main universities and
several student groups burned the effigy as they arrived in city
square.

Some 2,000 students took to streets peacefully in Padang, the
capital of West Sumatra, chanting slogans and brandishing
antimilitary posters.

While demanding military withdrawal from politics, some 300
students from the Indonesian Students Network held a rally at the
Central Java military headquarters in Semarang to urge the
government to liquidate military command posts from the village
up to provincial level.

Students also held antimilitary protests on Tuesday in
Surabaya, Yogyakarta, the South Sulawesi capital of Ujungpandang
and the Aceh capital of Banda Aceh. (27/43/44/45/nur/har/edt)