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)