Students seize the day as ABRI relaxes guard

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)