Students continue protests in a show of solidarity
JAKARTA (JP): University students in three cities continued with their massive show of solidarity for fellow students who died in recent rioting in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi.
Even as the 1,000 students held their simultaneous demonstrations, however, the Ujungpandang students have resumed school. "Everything's back to normal here," a resident said yesterday.
A student in Ujungpandang, however, told The Jakarta Post that they were waiting for the regional military command to finish investigating the April 22 student rioting and the ensuing clashes with security officers which led to the death of three students.
"If we're not satisfied with the results, we'll probably hit the streets again," the student said.
There are two teams investigating the rioting which originated from students' protest over local bus fare increases. The first team was the National Commission on Human Rights, led by Secretary-General Baharuddin Lopa, while the second was the military team.
The rights commission announced on Wednesday that they found there were rights abuses in the incident. The military team is still investigation, but has admitted recently that some of the Armed Forces (ABRI) members sent to contain the students' protests made "mistakes". Chief of Staff of the Wirabuana military command Brig. Gen. Fachrul Razi has even called the mistakes "cruelty".
Both the government and the Armed Forces have appealed to all parties, including the students who haven't stopped demonstrating, to refrain from engaging in any activities that could disturb peace and order.
On the campus of University of Indonesia in Depok, West Java, some 500 students clad in yellow jackets yesterday held a rally to protest the military's use of force in handling the campus demonstrations.
The students plastered the college's Makara (fountain of knowledge) monument with posters and placards. They unfurled banners which read, among other things, "a campus is not a battleground, general."
The students marched across their campus and went out to surrounding areas. Some said they planned to hold similar rallies at the House of Representatives and the Armed Forces headquarters in Cilangkap, East Jakarta.
In the Central Java city of Salatiga and in Yogyakarta, hundreds of students also held demonstrations of solidarity for the three dead students.
More than 100 students of Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta gathered at the campus, but could not leave the compound as hundreds of riot police blocked their way.
"I sympathize with your cause, but please don't march outside of the campus," chief of Sleman's police resort Lt. Col. Antana pleaded with the students. "Don't try to make me let you leave the campus."
The police chief told the students that if they forced their way out of the campus, he would disperse them by force as well.
In Salatiga, dozens of students marched from Satya Wacana Christian University to City Council. They were received by the Council's head of the Armed Forces faction, Siswanto. (har/06/20/31/swe)