Students' rallies
Students' rallies
From Media Indonesia
Thousands of students from Java and Sumatra in the Students'
Executive Body held a long march to the People's Consultative
Assembly/House of Representatives (MPR/DPR), after holding a free
forum at the University of Indonesia's Salemba campus. This shows
they are concerned with the President's administration.
The Jan. 29, 2001, student movement did not want to get
trapped in the conflict related to President Abdurrhaman Wahid's
leadership. Their demands to the nation's leaders are a
realization of the 1998 reform agenda launched to crush Soeharto.
Soeharto's fall due to the 1998 students' reform movement was,
unfortunately, not followed by an overall annihilation of the New
Order, which had created a deep-rooted system. Consequently, the
reform process leading to a new Indonesia only resulted in much
homework for our students. The 1988 reform agenda is not
contained in the fundamental concept for destruction of the New
Order system.
And during Habibie's transitional administration, the formal
touch through MPR Stipulation by MPR Special Session was only
superficial, so that it only had the impression of the birth of
"fabricated" reformers. Dying reform and half-hearted reform are
continued by the President, which is proved by the emergence of
the Bulog and Brunei scandals as well as other deviations.
After the 1998 reform and the students' return to campus,
those who enjoyed the reform results were busy distributing power
and enriching themselves, resulting in clashes among themselves
due to uneven distribution. They no longer cared about the
grievances and burdens borne by the people.
With their morally responsible attitude, the students have
again launched a movement and accumulated power to strive for the
people's aspirations. The action of continuing the people's
aspirations are the grounds of the students' movement, because
the nation's leaders no longer care about the reform agenda. The
students again rallied in the streets. That is all they can do to
remind the nation of the leaders' indifference.
People who expect much from the students become represented in
their movement. The students' spirit never dies after observing
that the political elites take care of their individual and their
groups' interests. What is coming to light is that corruption,
collusion and nepotism in Abdurrhaman's era are ruder and more
explicit than in the past, so that the students feel they have a
moral obligation to strive for the truth. The students' movement
has a broader orientation in determining their demands for
voicing the people's interests.
AHMAD MATHAR KAMAL
Jakarta