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)