Student groups want ABRI to quit politics
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.
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