Students submit own anti-monopoly draft

Students submit own anti-monopoly draft

JAKARTA (JP): Dozens of students apparently representing the
student bodies of 43 colleges and universities went to the House
of Representatives yesterday to submit their anti-monopoly bill.

Calling themselves the Unity of Indonesian Students for
Economic Reform, the students said they drew up the draft law in
a period of six months.

The 36-page draft, complete with diagrams and tables to
illustrate its 37 articles, has already been discussed in a
workshop held at the Jakarta State Institute for Islamic Studies
(IAIN) in Ciputat, South Jakarta.

Some 150 students attended the workshop. According to
Abdurrahman, one of the students, they came from Jakarta, Bandung
and Bogor in West Java, Medan in North Sumatra, Surabaya in East
Java, Magelang in Central Java, Lampung in South Sumatra,
Yogyakarta and other areas.

The students' anti-monopoly draft states that economic actors
found guilty of conducting enterprises which are defined illegal
in the draft are subject to "a maximum of 15 years of
imprisonment and a fine of 15 times the loss caused by the
enterprise."

The draft law is given the tentative year 1996 and is titled
"Monopoly and Business Competition." The document also provides
a space where President Soeharto is supposed to sign it.

The draft refers to a 1993 decree of the People's Consultative
Assembly (MPR) regarding economic democracy based on the
Pancasila state ideology.

"The draft was completed with the help of several experts who
acted as our sources, but they asked not to be named,"
Abdurrahman said.

In the House lobby, representatives of the 50-odd students
read their "1995 Declaration of Indonesian Students."

"Based on the true purpose of the development process, and the
spirit of equality and justice, practices of centralizing
economic powers which are detrimental to the public must be
eliminated," the declaration stated.

The students also requested, but failed, to meet with House
Speaker Wahono and submit the document to him.

"It is not the usual procedure for Wahono to directly meet
such requests, so the request was turned down," an employee said.

The students refused to speak to House factions' members
before meeting Wahono.

A House employee said the Armed Forces (ABRI) faction and the
Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) faction had agreed to discuss
the draft with them.

Sabam Sirait of PDI arrived at the House in the afternoon from
another function but the students had left. (anr)