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)