Peaceful demonstration is allowed: President Soeharto
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto says the government will not ban any street demonstrations, but stressed that all public protests will need a police permit to ensure orderliness and minimize the likelihood of destructive behavior.
"What the government bans is destructive actions, not the demonstrations," Soeharto said when hosting recipients of scholarships from the Supersemar Foundation he chairs.
The President said people need an official permit to hold a demonstration and guaranteed the authorities will approve all protests so long as they have good intentions.
He said the government would punish those who incite violence by raising sensitive issues such as religion and race. "All citizens are equal before the law as the 1945 Constitution guarantees and the non-indigenous deserve equal protection," he said.
Critics and some student groups have charged that the Soeharto "New Order" administration is intolerant of criticism. Many students have been put in jail for demonstrating.
Student demonstrations played an important role in helping oust President Sukarno's "Old Order" administration in the mid- 1960s.
Stability
Soeharto has effectively curbed street demonstrations on the pretext that national development, which focuses on the economy, needs stability.
"Demonstrating is all right but it should not violate rules and never turn to violence," he said. He added that it would be difficult to control a street rally involving hundreds of people.
He said he worried that if not properly controlled, street protests may be used by "third parties" who do not want to see a stable Indonesia.
On Saturday, Soeharto addressed the 20th anniversary of the Supersemar Foundation which opened a national congress for students and alumni who received scholarships from the Supersemar Foundation at Taman Mini Indonesia Park.
The President said that it would take more than one generation to develop vast multi-ethnic Indonesia and that there are simply no shortcuts to success. "The Indonesian experience shows that we can make the basis for economic take-off only after 25 years of continuous hard work," he said.
Soeharto said the best the government could do to increase the yield from development is to increase the pace of the process.
"We need quality human resource to do that," he said in the ceremony in which Vice President Try Sutrisno was also present.
He added that some countries which have quality human resources can develop their nations very well although they have limited natural resources.
221 graduates
The Association of Supersemar Scholarships Recipients plans to train 221 graduates to work as volunteers to help administer government aid under the Presidential Scheme for Poor Villages.
The President said despite success in economic development, of the about 65,000 villages across Indonesia, 20,633 are still poor.
Since its establishment in 1975, the Supersemar Foundation has provided scholarships to tens of thousands of students, including post graduates.
The scholarships were initially offered to students whose parents were killed or missing in the military operation to liberate West Irian (now renamed Irian Jaya) in the 1960s.
Soeharto said the facilities will also be provided for students whose parents were killed or missing during Operation Seroja to liberate East Timor in the 1970s.
He said Supersemar scholarship recipients are expected to become entrepreneurs, but they will receive top priority if they want to serve as civil servants. (pan)