Students explain motives for demonstrating

Students explain motives for demonstrating

YOGYAKARTA (JP): A small group of female students in tight
jeans stood a little distance away from their colleagues
assembling near the student hall at Gadjah Mada University
shouting protests over the government's handling of the economic
crisis.

"Oh, come on. Join us," said one of the protesting students to
the female students. "Come on... this is for us."

The girls looked at one another, smiled and stepped forward to
join the growing throng of students whose chanting had now become
louder.

Students are demonstrating almost daily in cities throughout
the country. They are protesting for various reasons, including
an inability to resist peer pressure.

Many, however, say they protest because they were concerned
about the impacts of the economic crisis on people's lives, and
because they believe that the country needs sweeping reforms.

There are personal reasons, too.

Koento Wibisono, a philosophy professor at Gadjah Mada
University, said recently that nothing could stop the student
demonstrations except affirmative government actions to heal the
economy.

"If students no longer had to borrow money to survive, these
protests would die down," he said. He hastened to add that such
personal motives did not necessarily lessen the urgency of their
demands for economic and political reforms.

Only last week, students found themselves at the receiving end
of accusations that they had ulterior motives and were being paid
to demonstrate by certain parties.

The Jakarta Post spoke to a number of student leaders who
strongly denied such allegations. They said students staged their
protests and sometimes risked their safety because they could not
stand the sight of people suffering in the economic crisis.

Fendry Ponomban, a student leader at Gadjah Mada University,
pointed out that students had actually staged demonstrations for
reform even before the impacts of the economic crisis were
acutely felt.

At that time "it was so difficult to assemble (protesters).
The best we could do was (to mobilize) 100 people," he said.
"Now, masses of students appear to join our demonstrations, just
like that."

At one stage, 35,000 students and activists joined a
demonstration on the Gadjah Mada campus.

Dedy, a student at Gadjah Mada's School of Philosophy who
participated in three recent demonstrations, said he was actually
afraid of being arrested for protesting. He said he was
especially nervous because his father was a retired police
officer.

But, he said he could not turn a blind eye to the fact that so
many people were complaining about how hard life had become since
the economic crisis began.

"The pedicab drivers that I speak to almost every day tell me
how difficult it is for them to earn even Rp 5,000 (63 US cents)
a day for their families as prices have soared," he said.

He said meatball soup sellers, pedicab drivers and other
people he met expressed hope that the students would continue
with their demands for lower prices.

"I don't know anything about politics. I don't have any
political ambitions in joining the demonstrations. I don't know
whether my involvement in a demonstration will really help reduce
the prices of essentials."

He conceded that he felt "proud" after participating in a
demonstration.

Entri Sofiatun, a 21-year-old student at Gadjah Mada's School
of Literature, recounted how her parents, who are elementary
school teachers, have had their meager salaries cut for various
donations imposed upon them by local officials.

"As a woman, I hear mothers complain about the prices of milk,
cooking oil, flour and other essentials, while their husbands
cannot earn more money," she said.

Entri said she had yet to pay her school tuition because she
had to use the money for daily needs.

"Even if I were not a student, I would still join in the
demonstrations," she said. "The first time I joined one, I was
embarrassed. I thought people were laughing at me. Now, I feel
relief if I can shout at the top of my lungs during a
demonstration."

Sri Pratomo, a chemical engineering student, said
conversations with other students convinced him that the
administration had badly decayed. "Social and economic gaps, the
accumulation of assets in the hands of a few people, the
repression of free speech" are evidence of the decay, he said.

"I have always realized this, but only after the crisis did I
start to demonstrate," he said. "My siblings and I want to do
something, and that is demonstrating, protesting... this is a
stance that students have to take as (proof) of their moral
responsibility.

"I don't have any political ambitions. I take to the streets
because my conscience tells me to, because of how expensive life
has become.

"Demonstrations are needed because the (country's) control
mechanism, namely the House of Representatives, stays quiet," he
said.

Wahyu Wulandari, 20, a student at Gadjah Mada's School of
Social and Political Sciences, said she participated in the
demonstrations because "all religions teach their followers to
care about people, and that's my reason."

"After the crisis began... I put my heart into the
demonstrations. The things that we have been protesting against
are also affecting me. I believe this is the reason why so many
people join the demonstrations. (23/44)