Students demand amendments, revolution in national life
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Hundreds of people gathered here on Friday for one the biggest rallies yet held during the Annual Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), to demand the finalization of the amendment process.
In Yogyakarta, protesters demanded a revolution to improve conditions in the country, while in Surabaya students rejected the plan to set up a constitutional commission.
In Jakarta, protesters formed a human chain that stretched from Taman Ria Senayan Park to the Assembly's entrance gate on Jl. Gatot Subroto in Central Jakarta.
The protesters, who came from various organizations, mostly universities across Jakarta, began the rally at 7:30 a.m. at the Hotel Mulia Senayan in Central Jakarta where legislators have been staying during the Annual Session. From the hotel they marched to the nearby Assembly building, causing serious traffic congestion.
A number of student executive bodies from Greater Jakarta had earlier planned a massive rally involving 5,000 students, but only around 500 turned up.
In Yogyakarta, dozens of students staged a rally at Gadjah Mada University to demand that the factions in the MPR end their bickering and avoid political haggling over the amendment process. According to the students, the legislators were like snakes fighting it out in a cage.
"After seeing developments during the increasingly nauseating Annual Session, which has failed to bring about changes in the people's lives, we demand a total revolution in all aspects of national life," protest coordinator M. Arif Fibri said as quoted by Antara.
The revolution could start with the establishment of a constitutional commission for the drafting of a new constitution. The commission should comprise academics, experts, religious leaders and public figures, said the protesters.
This should be done without disrupting the amendment process, the students added.
They therefore demanded that the MPR avoid a deadlock in the amendment process. A deadlock, said the protesters, would only justify suspicions that the annual session was nothing short of a farce.
In Surabaya, around 200 students from Airlangga University and the Institut Sepuluh Nopember rejected the establishment of a constitutional commission.
Carrying posters reading "Constitutional Commission = Trade Commission", "Beware of TNI/Police Political Maneuvers", and "Reject the Constitutional Commission", the protesters also warned of the possible comeback of the military and police onto the political scene.