Students protest about party rules

Students protest about party rules

JAKARTA (JP): Hundreds of students of the Indonesian Moslem
Students Action Union staged an orderly rally in front of the
People's Consultative Assembly/House of Representatives (MPR/DPR)
building in Central Jakarta on Thursday.

Their demands included, among other things, the rejection of
Pancasila (the state's ideology) as the sole principle for
political parties, the revocation of the Armed Forces' (ABRI)
dual function and the acceleration of the general election.

"The general election needs accelerating so as to choose a
legitimate national leader," Fitra, the union's coordinator,
said.

As soon as the students finished disclosing their demands,
they dispersed peacefully at 11:45 a.m.

Thursday's demonstration followed a massive anti-Habibie
protest by thousands of students at the same place on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, in anticipation to next month's MPR Special
Session, the city administration would hold a massive public
parade to be attended by over 100,000 Jakartans at the Senayan
East Parking Lot in Central Jakarta on Saturday.

Head of the city's social and political affairs directorate
Bagus Suharyono said on Thursday the parade would be held to show
the public's readiness to help maintain security in the capital
as the existing security officers alone were not enough.

"It has been predicted that various political groups will
emerge during the event, while the number of security personnel
is very limited compared to the size of the city," he said.

He said that it was impossible for the 78,000 security
officers to maintain security in the city which has a width of
650-kilometers and about 10 million residents.

Bagus said that the people were ready to face any possible
massive demonstrations during the Nov. 10 to Nov. 13 session.

He said that the city's five mayoralties, which would also
hold similar parades in their respective areas on Friday, had
been asked to send their representatives to the planned massive
parade on Saturday.

"Actually, we should be on alert every day as there's almost
not one single day without a demonstration in the city," he told
a communications forum of public figures, including religious
leaders, business people and youths, at the City Hall.

Bagus said that his directorate's data showed that there had
been 133 opposition groups, which had held 667 kinds of public
gatherings, including street demonstrations, mass prayers and
leaflet distributions, since the resignation of president
Soeharto on May 21. (ind/hhr)