Students step up pressure
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Students nationwide again took to the streets on Friday, rejecting the Supreme Court's decision that acquitted Akbar Tandjung of graft charges.
The second day of protest went peacefully, unlike the day earlier, when at least 60 student protesters were hospitalized after clashes with police.
On the second day, students again pressed their demands that the Attorney General's Office (AGO) review the Akbar case and reopen it. They also demanded the Indonesian authorities investigate four of five judges who acquitted Akbar, whom the students accused of doing backroom deals.
Police tightly guarded protests across the archipelago, but no blood was spilled.
In Yogyakarta, an ancient city known to have been the pocket of progressive students, some 800 students staged protests in front of the Gadjah Mada University traffic circle, demanding the AGO reopen and review the case.
Amin Sudarsono, the coordinator of the protest, alleged that the verdict was the outcome of a backroom deal and therefore had to be rejected. "The verdict was weird. The district court and the high court found Akbar guilty of corruption, but he was subsequently acquitted by the Supreme Court.
"The case must be reopened to guarantee that justice is done," he shouted to crowds of protesters.
According to the law, a proposal to reopen and review a case may be filed only by a defendant or the family of the defendant, not the public.
However, Didi Supriyanto, a legislator from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) said in Jakarta that it was still possible to demand reopening and review from the AGO.
"There have been precedents," he said, referring to the Gandhi Memorial School and Muchtar Pakpahan cases.
The students in Yogyakarta, mainly from the Indonesian Muslim Students Action Front (KAMMI), staged some street theater then dispersed peacefully afterward.
In the Central Java capital, Semarang, a similar protest was held by hundreds of students from KAMMI and from Soegijapranata Catholic University, and the Democratic People's Party (PRD). The students carried a bier, on top of which was a picture of Akbar wearing a yellow Golkar Party jacket. The students staged a protest in front of the Central Java High Court.
The Supreme Court verdict was the "death knell of law enforcement in Indonesia," according to the protesters.
The students demanded that the Supreme Court judges be investigated, fearing that they had made backroom deals in reaching the verdict.
In the East Java capital, Surabaya, hundreds of students from various universities staged a protest in front of the governor's office, criticizing the verdict.
In the North Sumatra capital, Medan, dozens of students from various universities descended on the provincial council building. Besides rejecting the verdict, the students also demanded that the authorities investigate the clash between students and police in Jakarta on Thursday, which left at least 60 students injured.
They said that the clash was engineered by the police in order to deter student protesters from taking to the streets again.
"The students were not armed. We condemn the repressive approach by the police," said Usman, a student protester.
In a separate development, the Supreme Court verdict fueled tension in the small East Java town, Bojonegoro, where five command posts belonging to the Golkar Party Supporters Front (BBPG) were set on fire by unidentified people at dawn on Friday.
The five posts were set alight by four people on two motorcycles between midnight and 1 a.m on Friday, some six hours after the Supreme Court had declared its controversial verdict.