Protests for reform continue
JAKARTA (JP): Even as fellow students participated in a government-sponsored dialog with officials in Jakarta, demonstrations for reform continued on university campuses in various cities on Saturday.
In Yogyakarta, around 100 students from Sunan Kalijaga State Institute for Islamic Studies demonstrated against corruption, collusion and nepotistic practices, which they blamed for the economic crisis.
The group called themselves the Action Front of Students for People and included students from the institute itself, Indonesian Islamic University (UII), Janabadra University and state-run Gadjah Mada University. The students unfurled banners and waved posters demanding affordable prices of food and other essential commodities.
They also rejected the outcome of the General Assembly of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), which they said was rigged. In March, the assembly endorsed the 1998/2003 State Policy Guidelines, reelected President Soeharto for a seventh consecutive term and elected B.J. Habibie as vice president.
Security personnel displayed restraint and negotiated with the students when they attempted to march off the campus onto the streets. Both parties agreed that riot police would withdraw if the students went back onto their campus, which they did before dispersing peacefully.
In Jakarta, around 100 students from private-run Ibnu Chaldun University on Jl. Pemuda also attempted to take their protest onto the street, but were prevented from doing so by security personnel. Representatives from the Indonesian Academy of Banking and Sukabumi Students Forum joined the demonstration, Antara reported.
Student leader Titik Damayanti said the demonstration was held to show they did not recognize the dialog held between students and cabinet ministers on Saturday.
"The dialog was a futile piece of government engineering. We will continue with demonstrations," she said.
In Mataram, the capital city of West Nusa Tenggara, around 800 students from Mataram University set up a free speech forum at the provincial legislative council and took turns to criticize the government's handling of the economic crisis. They marched two kilometers from their campus to the council under the watchful eye of 200 security personnel.
"Praise be to Allah, the students were orderly," West Lombok police chief Lt. Col. Djunaidi Tiansyah said, as quoted by Antara.
The students returned to their campus and dispersed peacefully later in the day.
In Semarang, the capital of Central Java, 200 students from Walisongo State Institute of Islamic Studies (IAIN) criticized the political elite's abuse and manipulation of the law to justify their actions.
Students carried banners and posters proclaiming that "fighting for the people is not subversion" and "everyone has the right to talk about politics." They tried to leave the campus, but were stopped by riot police.
The students then burned an effigy of a leading national figure.
Also in Semarang, 200 students from state-run Diponegoro University visited the provincial legislative council to seek a dialog with legislators. No one was available for a meeting so the disappointed students held a free speech forum outside the building to give vent to their frustration.
"We are disappointed because we can't meet the chairman and deputies of the council, so we will continue with our street protests," a student said. (23/har/swe)