Students: Driven by curiosity, spirit, courage and tenacity

By Edith Hartanto and Yudha Kartohadiprodjo

JAKARTA (JP): Our considerable admiration for the student movement was forgotten as we drove our cars down congested back roads when thousands of student demonstrators took control of the city's main thoroughfares, blocking traffic as they chanted out their hopes and demands.

Nevertheless there are many aspects of the movement that draw our support and arouse our curiosity: their spirit, their courage and their persistence. What is behind the endless marches and fluttering banners?

Visiting the headquarters of student organizations can help to satisfy this curiosity.

Usually located on university campuses, these headquarters are where many activists start their days, and sometimes spend their nights.

Shed your romanticized illusion of the scene where students meet in Victor Hugo's Les Miserable as you enter the headquarters of Forum Kota, better known as Forkot, one of the most militant student groups in Jakarta. The Posko, as the activists call their headquarters, occupies a row of abandoned dormitory buildings in a remote corner of the Universitas Kristen Indonesia campus in Cawang, East Jakarta.

The bare concrete floor and absence of furniture makes the room seem transitory. Visitors may feel unwelcome when greeted by the suspicious stare of activists sitting idly on the bare floor. Don't be offended, branded as a radical group, Forkot activists frequently have to move their headquarters to similar locations throughout Jakarta to avoid raids by the security authorities.

"They're the rowdy bunch in this movement," said a Trisakti University student talking about the Forkot activists.

Last Tuesday, piles of boxes containing cups of mineral water occupied one corner of the headquarter's main room. Surprisingly, a group of Forkot activists were busy with red crepe paper and glue, not banners, in the opposite corner.

"I hope it does not rain tomorrow," said Adian, a coordinator of the group. Although at times his attention averted to the paper flowers he was making, he could not conceal his stern belief in his statements during an interview with The Jakarta Post.

The group were planning to lay crepe paper flowers in memory of the Black Friday victims at the Semanggi cloverleaf on the following day and any rain would ruin the occasion.

The radicals were going to show that they too could do things subtly.

Like many other activists, Adian makes the headquarters his home. When he is not coordinating his fellow students on the street, he sleeps, eats and studies in the room. Once, at the start of his time as an activist, the slender 26-year-old was abducted at gunpoint by security officers after he organized a demonstration in North Jakarta. Safety is another reason why he wants to be in the midst of his friends.

Like many other similar groups, Forkot is a loose forum without formal leaders. This is to avoid the possibility of its leaders being co-opted by the government.

Many other student groups do not share Forkot's radical views, but that does not mean they are any less dedicated to their cause.

Kiki, a 20-year-old student of Tarakanita secretarial college, said that she puts long hours into planning rallies an other activities to support the student cause.

"Our day usually starts in the headquarters, where we discuss issues and our strategy for that day," said Kiki, a spokeswoman for Student Action for Reform and Democracy (Famred). The organization has arranged a number of non-violent demonstrations and represents a more moderate side to the student movement.

Their day usually follows a regular pattern -- it starts with a morning consolidation meeting between field leaders. Students then meet at a certain point by 11 a.m. and are ready to move two hours later.

Trucks and buses are chartered the day before if a major demonstration is planned and other logistical arrangements are also made.

Both Forkot and Famred claim to be governed by an egalitarian presidium consisting of representatives from campuses in Jakarta. These representatives decide on the issue of the day.

"This is part of our efforts to avoid infiltration," said Elli of Forkot. The government has accused the movement of being manipulated by groups with vested political interests.

"Actually, we are sponsored by the Father and Mother Foundation" said Adian, mocking the accusation. He meant that the students are supported by their parents at home.

The activists' first struggle is usually how to win their parents' support. Parents often fear that their children's involvement with such groups will hamper their studies and even place them in considerable danger.

"At first, my parents did not allow me (to get involved in the movement), although my father could understand my decision because he was an activist in 1966" said Kiki.

Demonstrations can last until dawn and student meetings often run into the small hours of the morning. This compounded her parents' concern, but after a long argument, she eventually managed to placate them.

She also dismissed the notion that students' studies are disrupted if they become.

Veldy Verdiansyah, a student activist from Forum Salemba, is a case in point.

He is chairman of school of dentistry senate at the University of Indonesia and has maintained a grade point average of 3.6 in his seventh semester.

"I think it is important to acknowledge students' activities, not only their grades. Success in campus activities can sometimes justify bad grades," said Veldy during an interview in his senate office.

Forum Salemba is based on the University of Indonesia's campus at Salemba and is one of the few student movements that confine their activities to within the campus grounds. Unlike Forkot, Forum Salemba has formal leaders in the shape of senate chairmen from the university's schools.

Order is the name of the game for this group. The group is run out of the senate office and larger meetings are held in the campus hall. Food supplies are stacked in the adjoining storage room and chairs are neatly arranged around the main office.

Despite the demand of their campaign, activists still find some time for their love lives. Kiki met her boyfriend during a demonstration, while Veldy, 21, is to get married later today.

"Before I proposed to her, I explained to my fiancee that there would be certain consequences that she would have to face if she married me, an activist," said Veldy.

Although differing in their methods, Forkot and Famred are fighting for broadly the same cause and both groups say they have solid connections with the other.

Last week, after mourning the deaths of their fellow activists under the Semanggi cloverleaf, Forkot joined Famred for a gathering on the Atma Jaya University campus.

It did not rain that day. A mixture of relief and grief could be seen on the faces of Kiki, Adian and Elli after they managed to pay respect to their fallen friends without further incident.