Students demand truth on riot death toll

Students demand truth on riot death toll

JAKARTA (JP): Some 100 students demanded yesterday that the
government be more "transparent" about the number of deaths in
last month's street protests in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi.

"We want transparent investigations into what happened during
the riots, including the number of deaths," Garda, one of the
protesters, told reporters.

"We believe that the number of fatalities is in fact higher
than what the government has admitted," he added.

The students, hailing from various provinces, were organized
into a group calling itself the Front of People's Action (FARI).
They staged a one-hour protest in front of the office of the
Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security, Soesilo
Soedarman.

Unable to meet with the minister, the banner-waving students
left the office at 12 p.m., dispersing peacefully under the
watchful eyes of security officers.

The government and the National Commission on Human rights,
each conducting separate investigations, said that three people
died in the Ujungpandang protest. Students, however, claim that
they lost up to eight colleagues during the violence.

Twelve soldiers will be court-martialled this month for their
alleged "excessive response" to the violent protest, which
involved an estimated 10,000 students from various universities
in Ujungpandang.

Students in Ujungpandang took to the streets in a wave of
demonstrations which began on April 22 to protest the public bus
fare increase from Rp 300 (13 U.S. cents) to Rp 500.

The protesters clashed with security officers who entered
their campuses, chasing students with rattan sticks and making
arrests.

Separately, secretary-general of the Ministry of Home Affairs
Suryatna Soebrata took lightly the Ujungpandang students' demand
that Ujungpandang's mayor resign in connection with the incident.

The authority to decide whether mayor Malik B. Masri should
resign or not lies with the local legislative council, he said.

Suryatna said he had not received any request for the mayor to
resign. (imn)