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)