Rudini defends Wiranto on dialog offer to students

JAKARTA (JP): Political observer Rudini said he was convinced about the sincerity of the Armed Forces offer, made through its commander Gen. Wiranto, to hold a dialog with students who have been protesting price hikes and advocating political reform.

Rudini, who is former minister of home affairs, said the offer -- which so far has not been accepted with enthusiasm by the students -- was not meant to silence and restrict the students' freedom of expression.

"The offered dialog is meant to accommodate the students' aspirations, not to restrict their thought," said Rudini, who is also chairman of an informal military think tank, the Indonesian Institute for Strategic Studies. He was speaking on the sidelines of a closed-door discussion at the National Institute of Sciences.

"I know Wiranto well and he is serious about the offer," added Rudini.

Wiranto failed to show up for a discussion held by some Jakartan students Monday to which he was invited.

Rudini supported the Gadjah Mada University students in Yogyakarta who said the same day that in order for a dialog to be held, there should first be equality, freedom of expression and transparency.

"The students may even criticize the Armed Forces if they do not agree with them," Rudini said.

Minister of Education and Culture Wiranto Arismunandar reiterated yesterday that students should offer concrete ideas on how to solve the economic crisis.

Thousands of students have demonstrated on university campuses nationwide for democratic reform and against the government's handling of the economic crisis that began last July. Many have urged President Soeharto to step down.

"Students must have a clear mind and thinking in conveying their aspirations... rather than uncontrolled emotional... expression," education minister Wiranto said after meeting President Soeharto at his residence on Jl. Cendana in Central Jakarta.

The authorities have been tolerant of protests held within campuses but there have been clashes with security forces when students attempted to march out of their university grounds.

When reminded of his own promise to talk to students, the education minister said doing so would now be counterproductive.

"I don't think it would be wise and effective (for me) to hold a dialog at a time when the situation is filled with uncontrolled emotion," he said.

In Yogyakarta, a number of students calling themselves the Committee for People's Struggle for Reform rejected the dialog offer from the Armed Forces.

"How can we call the offer 'dialog' when its concept has been predetermined by ABRI," the group's leader, Haris Rusly Moti, said.

Haris said the offer was mere political rhetoric to create an impression that the military was a democratic entity.

In Jakarta, dozens of students representing a number of student groups met yesterday with National Commission on Human Rights members Clementino Dos Reis Amaral and B.N. Marbun, to complain about the military's use of force in breaking up some student protests.

The students demanded that the Commission establish a fact- finding team to probe the alleged use of force.

Meanwhile, some 25 people staged a rally protesting the soaring prices of basic commodities at the Soemantri Brodjonegoro Student Center in South Jakarta.

Some 200 students from the private Borobudur University in East Jakarta also staged a similar protest on their campus.

In Surakarta, Central Java, 10 supporters of the ousted Indonesian Democratic Party leader Megawati Soekarnoputri started a hunger strike to symbolize their demand for immediate government action,

The 10 people's action follows a similar strike by nine other Megawati supporters launched last week.

There were at least four other protests staged by students from state and private universities in the city and the provincial capital of Semarang yesterday. (23/har/prb/byg)