Students issue defiant new year statement

Students issue defiant new year statement

JAKARTA (JP): Students from Java, Lampung and Bali pledged on
Tuesday they would continue with demonstrations this year as a
way to keep up pressure on the government.

In a statement released to mark the beginning of the new year,
18 students groups under the Front of Indonesian Youth Struggle
(FPPI) also defended charges of growing radicalization in the
student movement, saying any such trend was in response to the
government's clumsy handling of student protests and its
unwillingness to take heed of the demonstrators' demands.

"Student demonstrations are our way of making our stance and
demands known to the government," FPPI spokesman Jumiha told
reporters. The response by the government and the Armed Forces
has been "very insulting", he added.

In response to complaints that protests caused traffic
congestion, he said: "We would like to ask in return, why do
students express themselves through demonstrations and even
sacrifice their lives?

"We do all that because the government... has so far ignored
us and our demands."

Numerous calls have been made for students to bring an end to
street rallies during Ramadhan, a request which they have so far
obliged. Leading Muslim figure Abdurrahman Wahid said students
should stop demonstrating altogether, saying that it was enough
to have succeeded in bringing down former president Soeharto.

Others argue that student protests should continue.

In the wake of next year's general elections, the students
said they must keep up the pressure on the government to prevent
the public from being hoodwinked by attempts to favor government
elements at the polls.

"How can the election be trusted...if the political bills are
deliberated without the involvement of the true forces in
politics?" the statement said, adding that people should remember
that the current legislative bodies were put into power by
Soeharto's New Order administration.

The students added that ministers were largely going about
their "business as usual" without displaying a sense of crisis.

After the media conference, they also criticized the
government's decision to press ahead with a plan to create a
controversial civilian security force, which Habibie announced on
Tuesday. Jumiha said the government's promise not to use civilian
guards to police student demonstrations was irrelevant.

"They will still be deliberately used to set civilians against
civilians," he said, adding that this would trigger anarchy. (29)