Students demand dismissal of senior officials
Students demand dismissal of senior officials
JAKARTA (JP): Students stepped up their demand that three
senior officials be fired in connection with tycoon Eddy Tansil's
recent escape from a high security prison here.
Some 2,000 students took their protest to the House of
Representatives, waving banners and condemning alleged collusion
which made the escape possible.
They demanded the dismissal of Supreme Advisory Council chief
Sudomo, Supreme Audit Agency chairman Sumarlin and Minister of
Justice Oetojo Oesman.
They also urged Indonesian law enforcers to step up their
efforts to recapture Tansil, who broke out of the Cipinang prison
while serving a 20-year jail term for defrauding a state bank.
"We want Sudomo and Sumarlin to quit," read one poster. "Eddy
Tansil is the people's fugitive," read another.
Sudomo, the then Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs
and Security, was the one who recommended that Bank Pembangunan
Indonesia (Bapindo) give Tansil the loan. Sumarlin was Minister
of Finance at the time.
The dramatic jailbreak occurred only a month after Minister of
Justice Oetojo Oesman checked on Cipinang prison's security
system, following press reports that Tansil was enjoying special
treatment.
Tansil, the owner of the Golden Key business group, was
convicted in 1994 for swindling Bapindo of Rp 1.3 trillion ($620
million).
Protesters were grouped under the National Committee on Anti
Corruption and Collusion, a coalition of various non-governmental
organizations and student organizations.
The students were from various chapters of the Association of
Indonesian Moslem Students, the Center for the Education and
Information on Human Rights, the Pijar Foundation, the Humanika
Foundation, and other student organizations.
"We want Tansil persued wherever he goes," they said in a
statement. "The government should investigate the collusion
behind Tansil's escape."
After an hour-long protest at the House, the students went to
the Supreme Audit Agency, located near the House building, to
meet Sumarlin.
They failed to meet Sumarlin, however, because access to the
building was blocked and tightly guarded by antiriot police.
They then massed outside the building and repeated their
demands. They disperse peacefully after police called in buses to
take them away. No arrests were reported.
Oetojo recently said he had received reports that Tansil was
spotted on May 6 in a neighboring country some three to four
hours flight away from Jakarta. He did not specify which
neighboring country this might be.
The authorities were not ruling out the possibility that
Tansil was still in Indonesia however, he said. (imn/01)