Students say no to dialog with ABRI

JAKARTA (JP): Students from the country's top universities have snubbed the offer of a meeting with Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto and several cabinet ministers which was planned for Saturday.

Students expressed concern that the format for the dialog had been prearranged by the military and pro-government groups.

Rama Pratama, chairman of University of Indonesia's students senate, said he would only consider accepting the invitation if ABRI first held preliminary talks with student representatives to discuss the format.

"ABRI should demonstrate its willingness to hold the dialog with us directly without mediation of a third party," he said.

The dialog was expected to include Wiranto and 34 student representatives from 17 universities in various cities. It was initiated by the Ikbla Arief Rahman Hakim organization, which is made up of former student leaders from the 1966 generation.

The dialog had been set to take place in the YTKI building, South Jakarta, on Saturday.

Universities invited to the dialog include University of Indonesia and the Teachers Training Institute, both in Jakarta; Bogor Institute of Agriculture; Bandung Institute of Technology and University of Padjadjaran in Bandung; University of Diponegoro in Semarang; University of Gadjah Mada and Islamic University of Indonesia, both in Yogyakarta; University of Sebelas Maret in Solo; University of Airlangga in Surabaya; University of Brawijaya in Malang, East Java; and University of Hasanuddin in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi.

But student leaders from many of the universities said they would not attend the meeting when contacted by The Jakarta Post yesterday.

Chairman of University of Padjadjaran students senate Dadang Suhanda said there was a lot of ambiguities surrounding the planned dialog.

"Besides, there is no guarantee that the conclusions of the dialog will be followed up on," he said.

Ridaya La Ode Ngkowe, chairman of Gadjah Mada University students senate, said Gen. Wiranto should make his position in the dialog clear.

"The dialog is one-sided because it has been planned and organized by ABRI and the Ikbla Student Leaders Organization. We haven't been involved. Wiranto should also make clear whether he's representing ABRI, the government, or there in his personal capacity," he said.

He said students would take care that their movement did not get misused as "a political vehicle" for certain groups with vested political interests.

In Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, representatives from senate faculties at Hassanudin University confirmed they had received an invitation to the dialog but said they would not attend.

"There's no clear format and we're afraid it could end up with ABRI interfering in student affairs," Sudirman HN, who studies in the university's faculty of medicine, said.

Meanwhile Armed Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. A. Wahab Mokodongan, dismissed reports that ABRI had fixed a date for the dialog to take place.

"It's not true that the dialog will be held on April 4, as reported by the media," Wahab told journalists in the Armed Forces' Merdeka Barat headquarters.

Wahab said ABRI would remain committed to the spirit of democratization. "We can probably give the government a three- year time limit in which it must settle the crisis," he remarked without elaborating.

Other universities and colleges expressed their support for the rebuff of the Armed Forces' offer.

In Jakarta, hundreds of students from the state-run Syarif Hidayatullah Islamic Teaching Institute in Ciputat, South Jakarta and University of Mercu Buana in West Jakarta staged peaceful rallies in their campus grounds, rejecting the offer of a meeting with the ABRI commander.

They also continued to demand that President Soeharto himself meet with students.

Thirteen student senates from universities and institutes in Surabaya, whose representatives gathered at the Surabaya Adhi Tama Technology Institute in the city yesterday, aired their suspicions of the dialog proposal. (ivy/cst/nur/imn/rms/23/30/43)