Student pledges to continue hunger strike

Student pledges to continue hunger strike

JAKARTA (JP): A student activist vowed yesterday to continue
with the hunger strike he began on May 19, despite having
collapsed once from dehydration.

Still weak after passing out on Wednesday, Prasetyadi
Pancaputra of Airlangga University in Surabaya, turned up at the
headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) hoping to
air his grievances.

The 24-year-old student, speaking with trembling lips, said he
would continue until the government meets all his demands, which
include an ease of control over the media, a reduction in the
prices of staple goods, an increase in the minimum wage to Rp
7,000 a day and the abolition of five political laws which he
says are too restrictive.

Prasetyadi told The Jakarta Post that he was aware that his
demands were lofty and that he would probably be dead before any
of his demands were met.

Accompanied by colleagues from the University of Indonesia,
the student of social and political sciences at Airlangga was
preparing to camp outside the PDI headquarters.

"We chose this party because it's always been sympathetic to
efforts such as ours, which is the struggle for democracy,"
Prasetyadi said. "The other two political groups, Golkar and the
United Development Party, usually are not too responsive."

Prasetyadi said he drew his inspiration from the non-violent
struggles of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King.

He has been camping out at several places, including the
Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation, the University of Indonesia
campus and the House of Representatives building.

"Other forms of struggle, such as demonstration, are already
branded as disturbances to order," he said. "This way, nobody can
say I'm disturbing peace and order."

He collapsed on the fifth day when he was trying to meet some
legislators. He was brought to St. Carolus Hospital after blood
started coming out of his nose and mouth and received six bottles
medicine intravenously.

He started to drink water again at the insistence of the
physicians treating him. "They said my not drinking anything
could affect my kidneys, so I have started to drink a little
again," he said. He was spotted drinking a bottle of iced-tea
yesterday.

Prasetyadi first started the hunger strike by sealing his lips
symbolically with cellophane tape to protest the arrest of three
activists from an independent journalist association.

Since then, he has gradually added other causes to his
protest.

The sixth of seven children from a Protestant family,
Prasetyadi said hunger strikes do not go against his religious
convictions.

"I'm optimistic that my voice will eventually be heard," he
said. "What if I die before the government heeds either of my
demands? That's the wish of God."

Dedi Handoko, in his last year of UI Law School, said that
Prasetyadi's demands, though lofty, are reasonable. "He's not
just making them all up," he said.

Dedi said there are many students who are sympathetic to
Prasetyadi's way and willing to support him.

"Any form of struggle for democratization should be
supported," he said. (swe)