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)