Students demand Marzuki resign

JAKARTA (JP): Dozens of students from the Alliance of Indonesian Students Formal Bodies (Alfonso) rallied at the Attorney General's Office on Thursday, to demand Attorney General Marzuki Darusman step down.

The students accused the attorney general of failing to uphold law and justice.

"Corruption should be declared the public's biggest enemy and the supremacy of the law should be placed above all else in the country," a student said in a speech.

The students waited for Marzuki in the office compound for an hour and threatened to search the building if the attorney general failed to appear.

The demonstrators eventually dispersed at about 3 p.m. without meeting with Marzuki.

Another group of protesters arrived while the Alfonso activists were still in the compound. However, the police kept the some 100 demonstrators from the City Society away from the building.

The demonstrators from City Society, students from Trisakti University, Atma Jaya University, Indonesian Christian University and several other universities, told Marzuki to bring current state officials who also served under the New Order regime to trial for human rights abuses.

"Marzuki should clear the government of those people. If he fails, he should resign," the demonstrators said while displaying a banner that read "Dismiss Golkar".

Later in the day, some 50 people from the Betawi People's Union arrived to demand the Attorney General's Office not mix politics with the legal process. (bby)