Student groups want ABRI to quit politics

YOGYAKARTA (JP): The Armed Forces (ABRI) must quit politics or democracy will never develop, 18 student groups declared here on Friday.

They demanded in a demonstration the abolition of the Armed Forces' dual function -- a 40-year-old concept that justifies the Indonesian military's role in politics in addition to its defending the country.

Groups making the statement included the Gadjah Mada University Student Senate, the Indonesian Islamic University students representatives council (DPM UII), the student senate of the Karangmalang Teachers' Training Institute, the Indonesian Moslem Students Action Front (KAMMI), Yogyakarta Moslem Students League (LMMY), Concerned Indonesian People Action Front (KARPI), People's Mass Solidarity for Democracy (SOMASSI), Committee for People's Struggle for Change (KPRP), the East Timor Students Association (IMPETTU).

They signed their joint statement at the Yogyakarta Legal Aid Institute office.

The students' remarks are another open attack on ABRI, whose leaders have for the past few days been calling on the public to stop denouncing its dual role.

The students argued against the military's presence in politics on the grounds that it had retarded the country's democratization in the past three months, which some people have described as the first political opening in decades.

They cited the unresolved cases of kidnappings of political activists and rights violations allegedly perpetrated by the military as examples of how ABRI had held back the reform process. Of the 24 activists kidnapped, 14 are still missing.

"The investigation, shrouded with obscurity, into the kidnapping of activists and the trials of the Trisakti students' shooting, showed us that ABRI has hindered the democratization and reform process," they said.

They also blasted the Armed Forces for allegedly protecting senior officers from the law, despite alleged atrocities committed under former president Soeharto's 32 years in power.

They referred to rights violations in Aceh, Lampung, East Timor and Irian Jaya.

One activist, Titok Haryanto of the Gadjah Mada Student Council, also criticized the dual function for having slowed down the reform and democratization process initiated by President B.J. Habibie.

A similar demand for ABRI to quit politics was voiced almost simultaneously in a demonstration by hundreds of students at the Gadjah Mada University compound.

"Lower Prices. Scrap ABRI's dual function," one poster read. (23/44)