Student protests, moral movement without interests?

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.