Students say no to dialog with ABRI
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)