Students renew call for trial of Soeharto

Students renew call for trial of Soeharto

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta

Students and other people marked the sixth anniversary of the
fall of Soeharto by staging rallies in several cities on Friday,
demanding that the reform movement be put back on track while
insisting on the trial of the former president.

Several big cities, including Jakarta, Bandung in West Java,
Semarang in Central Java, Denpasar in Bali, Medan in North
Sumatra and Palu in Central Sulawesi saw their students and
people marching on the streets to commemorate Soeharto's
resignation six years ago. His resignation followed riots in a
number of cities after the shooting of students in Jakarta on May
12, 1998, which sparked protests and the end of the New Order
regime.

The demands raised in 1998 marking Soeharto's fall included
that all alleged violators of human rights and corruptors be
brought to trial and the end of militarism.

The protests saw further expression of the rejection of
militarism on Friday, following similar protests in the past few
months ahead of the July 5 presidential election in which two
candidates are retired generals -- former military chief Gen.
(ret) Wiranto and former minister of social and political
affairs, Gen. (ret) Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

It remained a question, however, how the demonstrations could
again lead to a force as united as the 1998 student' protests
that led to Soeharto's fall from power. Students have said their
role has not been followed up in a meaningful manner by other
civilian groups and those in the government. Analysts have
pointed to even worse corruption but optimists have referred to
the progress made such as the free elections.

In Jakarta, because of a strong police presence, at least 200
students from the May Alliance Movement were prevented from
entering Soeharto's residence on Jl. Cendana, Central Jakarta.
The march stopped at Jl. Teuku Umar, around 150 meters from his
house.

During the rally, the students delivered speeches demanding
that Soeharto be brought to court. At 6 p.m. the students left
after burning a coffin symbolizing the death of democracy.

Hundreds of students also marched along the capital's main
thoroughfares of Jl. M.H. Thamrin, Jl. Jend. Sudirman, and Jl.
Jend. Gatot Soebroto.

Demonstrations involving the Indonesian Muslim Students
Movement (PMII) demanded law enforcement, the protection of human
rights, Soeharto's trial, and the elimination of corruption.

In Bandung, more than 1,000 people including farmers,
students, and housewives staged rallies in front of Gedung Sate,
the governor's office, to urge the government to try Soeharto and
provide free education and health care for the poor.

The protesters of the Alliance of United People (ARB), also
argued that the reform movement had not improved the lives of the
common people. Even though hundreds of police personnel were
guarding the rallies, no clash was reported.

In Denpasar, at least 50 protesters of the Antimilitarism and
New Order Network were involved in clashes with dozens of
uniformed members of The Forum of Sons and Daughters of Retired
Military Personnel (FKPPI), injuring many of the protesters.

The protesters, many of whom were students, had brought with
them several posters of Wiranto and Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
They demanded that both be held responsible for the East Timor
mayhem in 1999 and military operations in Aceh. Around 35 members
of FKPPI attacked the protesters, who fled the site.

However in Semarang, the Front for the Defense of the Poor
(FPRM) rejected the other four president candidates -- Megawati
Soekarnoputri, Amien Rais, Abdurrahman Wahid and Hamzah Haz,
saying that they failed to support the reform agenda let alone
bring about any tangible improvements in people's lives.

In Palembang, hundreds of protesters also criticized military
abuses and the failure of succeeding governments in improving
conditions in the last six years.

The protesters also demanded that the government implement the
demands of the reform agenda by bringing former President
Soeharto and his cronies to trial, to end corruption, collusion
and nepotism, and to curb foreign control of the economy.