Students protest to Education Ministry

Students protest to Education Ministry

JAKARTA (JP): More than 100 students demonstrated at the
Ministry of Education and Culture yesterday, condemning an attack
by soldiers on the Christian University of Indonesia's Cawang
campus in East Jakarta.

The students protesting last Monday's incident also came from
Dr. Mustopo University and the National Science and Technology
Institute.

They demanded Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman
Djojonegoro ask Armed Forces Chief Gen. Feisal Tanjung to take
responsibility for the incident.

On June 23 soldiers from the Jakarta Military Command in East
Jakarta entered the nearby campus looking for people who had
attacked a soldier. In the process they injured at least five
students.

The soldier who was attacked was set upon when passing a group
of men from whom another soldier had escaped. Military Command
Spokesman Lt. Col. D.J. Nachrowi said last Wednesday that the
soldier who escaped from the angry men had reprimanded them for
extorting money.

The men had tried to attack the unnamed soldier, and vented
their frustration at the next man who passed in military uniform.

Campus authorities and the military agreed to settle the
matter amicably. But students said they were not involved in the
agreement.

The demonstrators, who carried banners and read poems, also
demanded campus autonomy.

The ministry's secretary-general, Hasan Walinono, accompanied
by the minister's military expert Brig. Gen. Suharto, met the
protesters.

Hasan said the dispute between the students from the
university and soldiers of the Jakarta Military Command should be
settled in accordance with the law. (jun)