Student protests, moral movement without interests?

By Asip Agus Hasani

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Over the last several weeks, hardly a day went by without a group of students holding on-campus demonstrations to demand lower prices for basic commodities and economic and political reforms.

In this student city of Yogyakarta, one major demonstration was one which was held the same day as the 1,000-strong People's Consultative Assembly reelected President Soeharto to his seventh consecutive term. More than 25,000 students assembled outside the Students Hall of Gadjah Mada University listening to fiery speeches by colleagues and seniors.

Two former rectors -- Teuku Jacob and Koento Wibisono, attended the rally as did critical lecturers including Amien Rais, Riswandha Imawan and Moechtar Mas'oed.

Other demonstrations that followed on other campuses in many other cities such as Surabaya, Bandar Lampung and Jakarta all left their own mark -- including clashes with security personnel. But, after launching such pressure on the government, what's next?

Student leaders Victor Yasadhana and Ajianto of Gadjah Mada University agreed that theirs was more of a moral force than a political movement.

"But, after long discussions, we concluded that even moral force was no longer adequate, because it's temporary and exclusive in nature," Victor said. "We need something more permanent, some organizations which include other elements in society."

Riswandha, a lecturer at Gadjah Mada University's School of Social and Political Sciences, insisted that student activism should remain a moral movement -- this is where their strength lies, because then they would be free of political interests.

"The current wave of student protests is an effort to enlighten the ruling elite, that the problems facing this country are not as simple as they believe. The power holders need input from students, who don't have inside interests," he said.

Mochtar Mas'oed agreed. "Student movements serve as a safety valve... when they criticize the government, no matter how harshly, they have nothing to lose," Mochtar said. "Those who have things to lose wouldn't have the courage to criticize.

"The government should accommodate the students' aspirations, no matter how minimally, so that there won't be a buildup of pressure that leads to something even bigger than just demonstrations," he said.

Radical

Mochtar dismissed the suggestion that the students sought radical change -- something the leaders of the powerful Armed Forces have insisted they would never tolerate.

"Asking for (presidential) succession as part of political reform is not radical, because there's no change in the Constitution involved," Mochtar said.

Victor defined the economic reform demanded by the students as economic development that empowered the majority of people. "In short, corruption, collusion and nepotism have to be eradicated," he said. "Development activities should aim at empowering people at the lower levels."

He defined political reform as the abolition of five laws that regulate Indonesian politics and the Armed Forces -- the so- called "package of political laws" which critics said have stunted people's political participation.

"We believe this (the existence of the five laws) is the root of the political problems that have hampered democratization," he said.

Irfan, another student leader, recalled an in-house poll of Gadjah Mada students last year, in which the majority (82.8 percent) rejected the reelection of President Soeharto.

"We have the responsibility to give voice to the aspirations of our colleagues," said Irfan, adding that the students planned to continue their protests until their demands were met.

"Just like Pak Amien Rais said, we're giving this new administration six months, we'll see how it performs," he said.

Future

Koento Wibisono, who is also the chairman of the association of Gadjah Mada alumnus, said the wave of student protests was inevitable given how the social economic situation had deteriorated while the government had yet to give a sign that it was effectively coping with the crisis.

"The younger generations, particularly students, are facing an uncertain future here.

"What they're doing here is seeking a format for their future. In the face of such a complicated crisis, the only thing they can do is gather and yell out their concern over the situation," he said.

Riswandha agreed. "The future should be theirs, but this crisis makes their future look grim," he said. "If we compare the situation to a soccer game, the students are only trying to find out in which direction the older people, now in power, kicked the ball.

"When the New Order was established (by Soeharto three decades ago), less than 2 percent of Indonesian people were university graduates," he said. "Now, their number has increased to 12 percent, but 10.98 percent are unemployed."

Riswandha said the students looked set to continue their protests because the new cabinet had yet to provide concrete answers about how it would deal with the crisis.

Victor, however, said their wish to continue rallying had so far been hampered by pressured from the authorities. "We won't stop protesting as long as there are still injustices," he said.

Irfan said the students had planned to hold another major rally next month.