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)