Student protests continue over Ujungpandang incident
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)