Students rally against fuel price
Students rally against fuel price
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Students in several major cities across the country took to
the streets on Thursday to protest against the hike in fuel
prices that was announced overnight.
In some places the rallies turned ugly, including in the South
Sulawesi capital of Makassar where hundreds of State Islamic
Institute (UMI) students set up a roadblock outside their campus,
burned tires and hijacked a fuel truck belonging to the state oil
company Pertamina.
Minor clashes occurred in Jakarta between security personnel
and some 100 students from the State Institute of Islamic Studies
(IAIN), who held a street protest in front of their South Jakarta
campus. The students placed leaflets on passing cars and waved
placards demanding that the government arrest corrupt officials
and seize their assets instead of raising fuel prices.
Order was quickly restored.
In Makassar, the UMI students hurled stones at the Pertamina
truck, which happened to be passing their campus.
The incident caused a massive traffic jam along the main
street, Jl. Urip Sumohardjo.
Some of the students mounted the roof of the truck and
delivered speeches expressing their disappointment at the
government's decision.
"We are very, very disappointed that the government has again
let the poor suffer," a protester yelled while stoning the truck.
A similar demonstration was held by hundreds of students from
the Makassar-based IAIN and Muhammadyah University at a local
Pertamina office.
During the protest, they criticized President Megawati
Soekarnoputri's administration for lacking a sense of crisis.
They also asked Megawati to resign.
"The government totally lacks concern for the people's
suffering. How could they ignore the impact of their decision?
Megawati must resign if she fails to annul the decision",
Mujibaran, a student leader, shouted.
In Denpasar, Bali, around 70 students staged a peaceful
protest at the downtown Puputan Badung square. They came from the
state-run Udayana University and the private Warmadewa
University.
Besides denouncing the fuel price hike, and the planned
increase in electricity tariffs, the students demanded that the
Megawati administration immediately seize the assets of former
president Soeharto and his cronies. The assets, they said, should
be used to provide fuel subsidies.
In Surabaya, students grouped under the Student Union for
People's Freedom (SMPR) and the Indonesian Islamic Student
Movement (PMII) held a joint rally against the increased fuel
prices in front of the local council building.
"Given the fact that our country has yet to emerge from the
prolonged economic crisis, the government must provide more
subsidies to the poor," Aris Sholehuddin, the rally co-ordinator,
said.
In Manado, North Sulawesi, a group of people calling
themselves the United People's Alliance held a rally at the local
council building.
Cordinator Roy Bayalatu said that fuel price increases were
not the only solution for repaying the country's huge foreign
debts.
He also said that the increase would raise new problems for
the community as it would be followed by a hike in the price of
staple goods as well as a series of job cuts.
A rally in Bandung, which involved dozens of members of the
Association of Islamic Students (HMI) and the Bandung Indonesian
Youth Front (FIMB), proceeded peacefully.