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.