Student leaders invite military cadets to dialog

Student leaders invite military cadets to dialog

JAKARTA (JP): Student leaders have invited their counterparts
from the Military Academy (Akabri) to participate in a national
dialog aimed at finding solutions to the current problems facing
Indonesia.

Ali Fahmi of the Committee for the Preparations of the
National Student Dialog said the military cadets had been asked
to join discussions on various social and political issues facing
the nation ahead of the June 7 general election. "We have not
received any word from them, however," he was quoted by Antara as
saying at the University of Indonesia here on Sunday.

About 200 representatives from various student and youth
organizations across the country also have been asked to attend
the dialog scheduled to be held in Sawangan, Bogor, West Java, on
March 5 to March 7.

"We want the military cadets, who are people of our own age,
to sit down with us and talk. Besides, the current Akabri is
different from the Akabri of the past," Ali said.

"Hopefully, this will bolster democratization, and they (the
cadets) will be able to sense a 'climate of dialog' among
civilian groups," he said.

The proposed agenda for the dialog includes discussions on
elections, militarism and the investigation into the wealth of
former president Soeharto and his cronies.

"Students, who are the guards of the reform, should be united
again," he said. (swe)