Students seize the day as ABRI relaxes guard

JAKARTA (JP): More students at various universities in Indonesia staged peaceful demonstrations yesterday, encouraged in part by a more receptive attitude from the government and military toward their concerns.

In Ujungpandang, students of the state-run Hasanuddin University were even allowed to stage a march through the South Sulawesi provincial city. However, their counterparts at the Bandung Institute of Technology were prevented from leaving the campus.

There were also on-campus demonstrations held in Jakarta, Surabaya, Semarang and Surakarta. In some universities, students were joined by lecturers and rectors.

There were no reports of violence at any of the protests.

While these demonstrations were not necessarily linked, they all demanded lower prices for basic commodities and sweeping political reform.

The Armed Forces, which had earlier warned against protests during the on-going General Assembly of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), appears to have relaxed its stance by allowing the protests to proceed as long as they do not disturb peace and order.

On Thursday, the Armed Forces (ABRI) faction in the MPR received a delegation from the University of Indonesia's students senate to engage in a political debate.

The National Commission on Human Rights yesterday lauded ABRI for meeting the students but called on the faction to follow up on the students' demands.

The students were representing the aspirations of the people, commission secretary general Baharuddin Lopa said.

Minister of Education and Culture Wardiman Djojonegoro separately said that student protests would be tolerated so long as they remained peaceful and orderly.

It would be even better if they could come up with constructive suggestions, Wardiman was quoted by Antara as saying.

Asked about the involvement of lecturers in these protests, Wardiman said: "This is a democratic country. They can voice their opinions like any other Indonesians."

Separately, State Minister of Environment Sarwono Kusumaatmadja also condoned the students' protests.

"It's typical for young people, when times are hard, to become restless. If they didn't, that is when you should start wondering," said Sarwono, who was a student activist in the 1960s.

In Ujungpandang, some 500 students of Hasanuddin University were escorted by police and soldiers during their march across town, held after Friday prayers.

Carrying a coffin, they yelled criticism of the government and called for immediate political and economic reforms.

"Reforms cannot wait," one student leader screamed.

They also called for lower food prices and for the People's Consultative Assembly to audit the wealth of senior government officials.

The march lasted 30 minutes and ended by setting alight the coffin, which was quickly extinguished by the police. The students later marched back to their campus.

In Bandung, over 2,000 students of the Bandung Institute of Technology continued with the free speech forum which they have held for the past week. However, their plan to march through the town was stopped by a heavy security presence outside their campus.

In Jakarta, it was a quiet day at the state-run University of Indonesia, but protests took place at two private universities, the Christian University of Indonesia (UKI), involving 300 students, and at Yarsi University, where around 100 students gave vent to their feelings.

In Surabaya, there were separate protests at Airlangga University, Sunan Ampel Islamic Institute, Surabaya Institute of Technology and Surabaya Teachers Training Institute.

In Semarang, over 100 students and lecturers from state-rum Diponegoro University's School of Letters staged a protest calling on the government to take steps to ease the economic crisis.

Other campuses hit by student protests in Central Java were the Sebelas Maret University in Surakarta and Soedirman University in Purwokerto.

In Yogyakarta, at least 300 students from the state-run Teachers Training Institute -- joined by senior lecturers such as Sukintoko and Ahmad Syafii Ma'arif -- held a rally at their campus to demand better economic conditions and democracy. (30/23/har/nur/emf/aan)