Students step up street rallies despite warning

Students step up street rallies despite warning

JAKARTA (JP): Ignoring a recent strong warning from the Armed
Forces (ABRI), students in various cities held several rallies on
Tuesday, including one near the presidential palace.

A group of Moslem students protested near Merdeka Palace to
demand the release of Moslem political prisoners, but they were
pushed away by security personnel.

"Religious leaders remain detained while PKI members are being
freed," the protesters yelled while marching toward the State
Secretariat next to the palace.

The protesters, from the Association of Moslem Students, were
referring to members of the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party
(PKI), three elderly members of which have been released by the
government under an amnesty along with more than 100 other
political prisoners since May.

"Free political prisoners and detainees," "Free religious
leaders who were victims of political engineering by the Soeharto
regime," and "Believers are slaughtered, where are your morals
and sense of justice?" read several posters carried by
demonstrators.

Heavy security of about 100 armed soldiers prevented the
demonstrators from approaching the State Secretariat, and some
soldiers pushed them away from a bridge behind the complex.

The protesters dispersed briefly but regrouped later and moved
toward Istiqlal Grand Mosque some 700 meters away.

They called for the government to look at the case of aging
Moslem religious leader Habib Husein al-Habsyi who was imprisoned
for life by Soeharto's government in 1990. Habib was accused of
masterminding several bombings in the 1980s.

"If those demands are not met by the government, President
B.J. Habibie should resign in a move to reflect his inability to
defend human rights," a statement distributed by the protesters
said.

The protest was the second in recent days to be held near the
palace complex, which the military has said is of strategic and
vital importance and off limits to protesters.

Last Thursday, 500 students protested near the palace,
demanding Habibie step down and that prices be reduced.

Minister of Defense and Security/ABRI Commander Gen. Wiranto
warned of stern action on Friday against protesters who
undermined security.

In another rally on Tuesday, about 40 students from Trisakti
University tried to enter the House of Representatives complex
but were held back by soldiers a few hundred meters away from the
main entrance gate.

Some of the students wore their university's blue jacket and
waved the university's flag, and called for price cuts and
Habibie to quit.

Meanwhile, some 60 National University students marched from
Gambir Railway Station on the rim of Central Jakarta's Merdeka
Square to the Legal Aid Institute to protest the high prices of
essentials.

Dozens of Indonesian Christian University (UKI) students also
staged a protest in East Jakarta demanding the ouster of Habibie
and lower prices of basic commodities.

Student rallies were also seen in a number of towns in Central
Java, East Java and West Java on Tuesday.

In the Central Java capital of Semarang, hundreds of students
staged a protest at the provincial legislature demanding lower
prices of basic commodities. In another part of the city,
however, hundreds of other students staged a protest demanding
the government reopen the investigation into the 1984 killing of
demonstrators by the military in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta.

The students, grouped in the Indonesian Students Action Forum
(FAMI) demanded provincial House Speaker Alip Pandoyo, who was
then the Jakarta Military Command operational assistant in 1984,
to unveil the "facts" behind the incident.

In the Central Java town of Purwokerto, some 350 students from
the state Soedirman University and the Islamic Studies Institute
also held rallies against Habibie and skyrocketing prices of
basic commodities.

"It is time for Habibie to resign because, during his first
three months of leadership, the people are suffering more and
more from the crisis," student leader A. Mukti said.

Similar protests were also seen in the East Java town of
Malang and West Java's Cianjur where hundreds of students and
people protested the high prices of essentials at the local
offices of the State Logistics Agency (Bulog).

In Bantul, some seven kilometers south of Yogyakarta, about
1,000 PT Samitex factory workers also staged a protest on Tuesday
demanding a pay increase.

The workers said their Rp 110,000 (US$11) per month salary was
below the minimum regional wage of Rp 130,000 per month.

The factory's owner, Sutanto, however said the management had
increased their wages 25 percent each month since December up to
March. (emf/har/45/23/44/byg/nur)