Protests continue against military candidates and New Order arrival
Protests continue against military candidates and New Order arrival
The Jakarta Post, Cirebon/Kupang/Yogya
Demonstrations continued on Wednesday in several parts of the
country against an apparent military comeback in the political
sphere following the nominations of a number of retired generals
as presidential candidates.
Hundreds of students in Cirebon, West Java, staged a rally to
oppose candidates with military backgrounds in the July 5
presidential election.
The 300 protesters from various universities and student
organizations grouped in the Anti-Militarism People's Movement
(Geram), marched to the cirebon district military headquarters,
the local police station and the offices of the Cirebon mayor.
The protest ended peacefully, although the students blocked
Jl. Siliwangi outside the mayor's offices for one hour from 12
midday.
The student barricade stopped traffic on the Cirebon stretch
of the north coast highway. However, police rerouted vehicles
onto alternative roads.
The students said the political revival of the military meant
the betrayal of the "spirit of reform and democratization" that
emerged after the 1998 downfall of Soeharto
The nomination of presidential candidates with military
backgrounds proved that Soeharto's authoritarian New Order regime
was trying to claw back its power, they added.
Two former chief security ministers, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
and Wiranto, both retired four-star army generals, are contesting
the first ever direct presidential election on July 5. The two,
who have been nominated by different parties, are expected to
attract big support at the polls.
A similar protest was held in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara,
where hundreds of students from the Struggle for Reform Action
Front(Fajar) rallied at the provincial police station against the
presidential candidates with military backgrounds.
They urged the soldiers to stay in their barracks and stick to
defending the country as professional soldiers.
The students also criticized civilian presidential candidates
who sought military support. The demonstration caused traffic
jams on major thoroughfares across Kupang.
The protests in Kupang and Cirebon coincided with the
commemoration of the May 12, 1998, shooting of four Trisakti
University students ahead of Soeharto's fall.
The protesters demanded that the legal authorities and the
National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) thoroughly
investigate the incident.
They also called for the police officers involved in the
recent brutal attack on the campus of the Indonesian Muslim
University (UMI) in Makassar, South Sulawesi, and the shooting of
civilians in Manggarai regency on Flores island, to be brought to
justice.
In Yogyakarta, hundreds of students staged separate protests
against militarism, warning of a return of New Order forces in
politics following the good showing of the Golkar Party in the
April 5 legislative election, and Wiranto's selection as the
party's presidential candidate.
The demonstrators also said the emergence of the Democratic
Party, which nominated Susilo for the presidency, showed that the
military remained a powerful player on the country's political
stage.