Students mourn death of reform movement

Students mourn death of reform movement

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Unlike other historical days, the fourth year of the reform
movement was observed in a bitter mood on Tuesday, with students
nationwide taking to the streets to vent their disappointment
with the political elite's failure to comply with the reform
agenda.

The demands aired during the rallies varied, ranging from
legal measures against former president Soeharto and his corrupt
cronies to the resignation of President Megawati Soekarnoputri.

The demonstration near Jl. Cendana in Menteng, where Soeharto
and his family live, turned ugly as the protesters from the City
Network (Jarkot) clashed with police who blocked their access to
the house of the former dictator.

No casualties were reported, but some of the students were
injured and got all wet as the police beat, grabbed and threw
them into a water fountain in the traffic circle nearby.

A larger group of students from various universities across
Java marched to the State Palace, demanding the government to
lower prices of fuel and other basic commodities, as well as
electricity, telephone and transportation rates.

They also urged the government to eradicate corruption,
collusion and nepotism, to bring human rights violators to court
and to reject foreign loans.

The demonstrators, carrying with them floral bouquets usually
reserved for funerals, unfurled posters that read: "Mourning the
death of the reform movement" and "Revolution Now".

They waved pictures of President Megawati and Vice President
Hamzah Haz crossed out with red paint.

The students could not meet Megawati as she was in Bali, where
some 150 people staged a peaceful rally against violence
committed by the state. Hamzah was at his office on Jl. Medan
Merdeka Selatan when the rallies occurred.

Students took the lead role in pushing for changes in the
country, which climaxed with Soeharto's resignation on May 21,
1998 after 32 years in power. The abduction of student activists
who challenged Soeharto's rule, the shooting death of four
Trisakti students and mass rioting which left hundreds burned
alive were the prices paid for a national leadership succession.

History repeated itself, as it was Soeharto who benefited from
student rallies against his predecessor and founding president
Sukarno in 1966 so he could assume power.

None of the three administrations which have followed Soeharto
managed to satisfy the people's demand for sweeping reforms. On
the contrary corruption, collusion and nepotism have worsened,
the legal system has been virtually unchanged and the selfish,
short-term objectives pursued by politicians have all contributed
to the bitterness.

A recent poll conducted by leading daily Kompas revealed that
over 80 percent of respondents were dissatisfied with the state
of the reform movement at present.

Megawati, once the darling of the oppressed and the student
protesters, was one of four figures who directly benefited from
student-led reform and was chosen to take the lead in the move to
challenge Soeharto. The others were former president Abdurrahman
Wahid, People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien Rais
and Yogyakarta Sultan Hamengkubuwono X.

Student rallies also took place in, among other towns,
Bandung, Semarang, Yogyakarta, Palu in Central Sulawesi, Makassar
and Pontianak in West Kalimantan.

The protesters from the Alliance of Students for Total Reform
and the splinter group of the Islamic Students Association in
Palu burned an effigy of President Megawati with the words "Enemy
of the Poor". The rally occurred in front of the governor's
office.

One of the students, Temu Sutrisno, said Megawati had failed
to carry out reform and to bring the nation out of the economic
crisis.

"Therefore she has to be forced to step down," he told some
100 students attending the rally.

Another student, Burhanuddin, shouted: "Megawati's government
is not on the side of the people in accordance with the reform
ideals. Neither is she a leader who can guide Indonesia out of
the crisis."

In Bandung, representatives of several student bodies demanded
the provincial councillors to push the government to take legal
action against Soeharto and his cronies, and to seize their ill-
gotten gains to subsidize commodities for poor people.

The students also expressed anger over the price hikes of
basic necessities.

People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) Speaker Amien Rais joined
the chorus of criticism on Tuesday, saying that despite some
positive achievements, the reform movement failed to show any
improvement in law enforcement.