Student protesters, idealists, now vandals?

JAKARTA (JP): There is no doubt that university students played a major role in the 1998 downfall of the Soeharto regime which resulted in Indonesia becoming one of the most populous democratic countries in the world.

Unfortunately, some of the student protesters, now calling for a people's trial for Soeharto, his family and cronies, have lately turned violent and seemingly out of control when airing their demands.

The city has witnessed much violent destruction of public facilities by aggressive students.

Police posts, police/military vehicles, public telephone booths, electricity poles, and also flower pots placed in the median strips of the city's major thoroughfares, have been battered, severely damaged and even set on fire.

In several cases, including last month's clashes in Salemba, Central Jakarta, some of the angry protesters attacked and beat up members of the military and police.

A number of other public facilities, including pedestrian bridges, and many privately-owned properties, have also been covered by graffiti.

Most of the students nowadays come well prepared by carrying offensive weapons and Molotov cocktails, almost as if they were about to go into battle.

Many have condemned such brutal actions by calling the protesters militant, ugly, wild, disgusting, etc. Others have said that the protesters' lack of control could result in a backlash from the military and police. Some people even find it difficult to believe that those who are damaging public property are actually university students.

Such reactions are also in evidence among students not involved in the demonstrations. A day after the ugly clashes between student protesters and the police which broke out after a court dismissed graft charges against Soeharto last month, dozens of students from various universities in Jakarta condemned the violence perpetrated by their fellow students.

"We demand that our fellows stop these mindless acts of violence at once," one student told the crowd.

The Jakarta Administration itself has spent hundreds of millions of rupiah repairing the damaged facilities.

Sadly, none of the vandals have been brought to court even though the prevailing laws authorize law enforcers to do so.

One of the latest scenes of such vandalism was the office complex of the Attorney General in the bustling Blok M shopping area of South Jakarta.

Almost every wall the building complex, which has been "busy" handling Soeharto-related cases, was covered in graffiti by the protesters.

When contacted on Friday, Mario Pasaribu of Forkot (City Forum), a student organization whose members are drawn from several universities, said on Friday that the damage was nothing compared to what the Soeharto regime had stolen from the state and the crimes he and his cronies had committed while he was in power.

"Such negative views are just aimed at denigrating our movement.

"The graffiti, for example, is a lot more polite (than the crimes allegedly committed by Soeharto and his family and associates)," Mario said.

Asked about the molotov cocktails and weapons, such as iron bars and clubs, that are now routinely carried by student protesters at their rallies, Mario said that they only armed themselves with these in anticipation of violent acts by the security forces.

"If the police shoot at us, then we would like to have guns too .. and we think it's legal (to protect ourselves)," he said.

Separately, Yushar Yahya, who on Friday left his post as spokesman for the Attorney General's Office, said that he would simply urge the protesters to change their attitude in a bid to gain the respect of the public.

"I don't think that the students need to draw rude sketches on state buildings. There's no need for that at all.

"If they approach us politely, then, of course, we'll treat them accordingly," said Yushar, who has just been promoted to chief of the South Kalimantan Prosecutor's Office.

Late last month, Jakarta Police chief Insp. Gen. Nurfaizi vowed to take stiff measures against any violent protesters.

"I am warning them (protesters) for the last time... I don't want any more casualties. So don't push us around," he said.

He stressed that the police would no longer be lenient with such violent protesters.

"In the past, we used to let them off with a warning. Not anymore," he said, stressing that those arrested would be brought before the courts. (bsr)