Student protests continue over Ujungpandang incident
JAKARTA (JP): Students in Jakarta, Bandung and Ujungpandang mounted their demand yesterday for court action on military's handling of last week's rioting in the South Sulawesi capital.
They denounced the way the military handled the April 22 protest on a 67 percent transport fare raise that led to the death of three students in Ujungpandang.
In Jakarta, more than 100 students from various universities marched to the House of Representatives, demanding that top Armed Forces (ABRI) leaders should also be held responsible for the incident.
Under the watchful eyes of dozens of anti-riot police and plainclothesmen, they carried a mock corpse wrapped in a white linen into the House foyer.
They waved banners, read statements condemning the use of force, chanted anti-violence slogans and sang patriotic songs whose lyrics were twisted to suit their mood.
"Were they drowned or shot?", a banner read, alluding ABRI general affairs chief Lt. Gen. Soeyono's claim that the three Ujungpandang students died after they leaped into a river to evade arrest.
House members from the ABRI faction refused to meet them after the protesters insisted that all of the demonstrators be allowed to take part in the discussion.
They unloaded their anger at the incident on three House members from the ruling Golkar party who volunteered to accommodate their protests.
The demonstrations in the three cities occurred despite a peace agreement that representatives from Ujungpandang students, the military, universities, religious figures, community leaders and government officials reached on Wednesday.
The document states that all breaches of the law will be dealt with legally without use of force, expresses regret about the deaths and injuries, and calls for restraint from all sides.
It also guarantees that anyone, including security officers, who allegedly violated the law will be brought to court.
Lt. Gen. Soeyono has said that the security officers moved into the campuses on April 22 to bring back order after protesters went on a rampage. He alleged that the protestation was masterminded by a third party who wanted to see chaos.
ABRI and the National Commission on Human Rights have conducted separate investigations into the incident that reportedly caused injuries to hundreds of students and left substantial material damage.
The commission's secretary general Baharuddin Lopa proposed that the bodies of the three students be exhumed for autopsy to facilitate legal proceeding.
In Bandung, about 300 students from the state Padjadjaran University demonstrated their sympathy to their Ujungpandang colleagues and their anger at the military's alleged use of force.
The heavy presence of security officers managed to contain the protest within the campus. Protesters scuffled with anti-riot police who blocked their way out of the campus.
In Ujungpandang, hundreds of students from seven universities massed on the Universitas 45 campus in a show of sympathy for their dead fellows.
Clad in their college jackets, the students said they were not entirely happy with the Wednesday's agreement. They urged ABRI leadership to speed up their investigation into the incident.
Like their colleges in Bandung, they also failed to go down the streets after the university's management managed to persuade them to confine their protest inside the campus.
Calm had returned to Ujungpandang yesterday as public buses were in operation as usual. (pan/20/17)