Students protest bus fare hike

Students protest bus fare hike

JAKARTA (JP): More than 300 students from various universities around Java held a demonstration yesterday at and around the Taman Ismail Marzuki arts center in Central Jakarta, asking the government to revoke the ministerial decree that recently raised public transportation fares.

The demonstration started at 3 p.m. and disrupted traffic on Jl. Cikini Raya for nearly three hours. The students read poems, made speeches and prayed for the students who died in a similar demonstration in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, on April 22 and 23.

The students demanded that Armed Forces Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung, Commander of the Wirabuana military command Maj.Gen Sulati, South Sulawesi Governor H.Z.B. Palaguna and Ujungpandang mayor Malik B. Masriy be held responsible for the deaths in Ujungpandang.

The students also urged the House of Representatives to set up a fact-finding team to investigate the incident.

Dozens of riot police with rattan sticks tried yesterday to disperse the students, injuring more than ten protesters, including Muchlis Nirwana, a law student at Pancasila University, Aickel, a student at the National Islamic Institute, Syarif Hidayatullah and Tuti Anis, both members of the Pijar Foundation, an information and action network. Tuti was taken to the Baruna medical clinic for her broken leg.

Another ten students were reportedly detained by local police as they were marching to the Legal Aid Institute on Jl. Diponegoro with a number of other students. (04)