Student regiment real cause of incident: Witness

Student regiment real cause of incident: Witness

JAKARTA (JP): A witness in the trial of six students of the National University told judge Moegihardjo of South Jakarta District Court that the incident on Oct. 18, 1994, for which they are being tried, was the result of a spate of harsh actions on the part of members of the university's student regiment.

The six defendants being tried yesterday were Syech Al Djufri, Agus Heryana Anirun, Kusnadi Darisan, Sudrajat Trisna, Indra Mulia Ismet Kamal and Wahyu Sugito.

They are among 12 students -- all members of the Association of Natures Lovers (Himpala) -- who stand accused of intentionally assaulting four members of the university's student regiment and of burning down the regiment's headquarters.

The witness who blamed the student regiment was Furqan Buchori, the university's Students Affairs Department chief. He said that the burning down of the regiment's headquarters on Oct. 18 was a form of retaliation against certain actions by members of the student regiment a few days earlier.

"Your Honor, I was told by the chief of the campus security guard that on Oct. 7, when the Association of Nature Lovers was holding a music festival on campus, some of the regiment members helped their friends to watch the festival without paying the entrance fee," he said.

He said that when a festival committee member reprimanded the regiment members, a brawl ensued between a member of the regiment named Charles and a student named Jacky.

"Four days later Jacky was abducted by some regiment members, who took him to their headquarters and beat him up," Furqan said.

He added that the regiment members had continued to terrorize the Himpala members by visiting their houses and verbally abusing them and their parents.

Furqan said the regiment members had destroyed the secretariat of Himpala several days before the Oct. 18 incident.

"Tori, the Chief of Himpala, Saut Lodewijk and defendant Syech Al Djufri came to my office to report what was happening to their secretariat. I, in turn, reported the incident to the rector," Furqon said.

Judge Moegihardjo asked Furqon why the university's officials had not quickly taken the measures necessary to resolve the matter.

Furqon said the university's officials had still been gathering facts about the incident.

Deputy rector

Before examining Furqon, judge Moegihardjo examined Bambang Permadi, the university's Deputy Rector for Academic Affairs, who said that he did not know who burned down the regiment headquarters.

Bambang said that on Oct. 18 he heard an explosion on the campus and that shortly afterwards a security guard had come to his office to report that the student regiment command post was on fire.

He said that after the security guard came to his office a member of the student regiment named Irvan had also appeared in his office, carrying a knife, and said that the fire had been lit by members of Himpala.

Bambang said that when Irvan was in his office, around one hundred students had gathered in the university compound protesting about the existence of the regiment. He said 10 Himpala members had banged on his door and that, when he opened it, they had asked him to pacify the protesting students.

"I went out to calm the students down but when I came back to my office I was in shock, knowing that my office was destroyed. Then I saw there was blood on the carpet," he said.

He said that he had learned, later, that some people had beaten Irvan after he had left his office. But he did not see who actually beat Irvan.(mas)