Students want Soeharto tried

Students want Soeharto tried

JAKARTA (JP): Thousands of students here and in several other
cities staged peaceful rallies on Friday to demand the upcoming
Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR)
arrange for the prosecution of Soeharto, expel the military from
politics and prepare for a fair and honest general election.

Also on Friday, different groups aired their opposition to the
session, saying it has failed to heed the people's demands. The
session is scheduled for Nov. 10 through Nov. 13. Among
dissenting voices was a group that planned to call a national
strike and another that planned to hold a peaceful mass
demonstration to air their grievances.

In Central Jakarta, around 5,000 students and activists who
called themselves the Salemba Forum packed the University of
Indonesia's campus to express their demands which included an end
to the government stipulation that all organizations, political
or otherwise, adopt the Pancasila state ideology as their sole
basis for existence.

The students urged the Assembly to decree that former
president Soeharto and his cronies be brought to court for
alleged abuses of power during Soeharto's 32 years in office.

"If the MPR rejects our (demands), we have prepared another
agenda. Just wait and see what will happen on Nov. 14," said Agus
Setyawan, the forum's spokesman. He did not elaborate.

Meanwhile, thousands of people from towns around West Java
gathered in Senayan East Parking Lot near the House of
Representatives/People's Consultative Assembly compound. They
said they were there to guard against possible attempts to
disrupt the session and would remain in place until after the
Special Session was over.

"This action is to anticipate those who intend to foil the
session. We are ready to face them," Daud Poliradja, the
coordinator of the Moslem Youth Forum for the Success of the MPR
Special Session, was quoted by Antara as saying.

Many of the campers are activists from the Moslem Youth
Movement, Moslem Students Association (HMI), Humanika and
Humaika, the news agency said, adding that they came from
Tangerang, Bekasi, Serang, Cianjur, Bandung and Garut.

"We are optimistic that our number will increase to 50,000,"
said Daud.

Elsewhere, while addressing a media conference before
inspecting troops deployed at the Assembly complex, Armed Forces
(ABRI) Commander Gen. Wiranto said there was no logical reason to
attempt to foil the event.

"A successful Special Session will help to restore the
confidence of both the local and international community and will
eventually lead to a recovery of the nation's economy," he said.

"It also shows us that the ongoing reform movement is on the
right track," he added.

Another rally was staged by around 500 HMI activists in front
of Taman Ria Senayan, a fun park adjacent to the Assembly
building, to protest against the military's role in politics to
demand Soeharto be prosecuted.

In Bengkulu, the capital city of Bengkulu province on the
island of Sumatra, hundreds of Islamic students took to the
streets to demand Soeharto be brought to justice. They also
called on the Armed Forces' to cease playing a political role.

In Semarang, the capital of Central Java, around 100 activists
of the Indonesian Nationalist Students Movement (GMNI) rallied in
front of Diponegoro State University to demand the general
election be held earlier than next May, for when it is currently
scheduled.

"The ruling government is unconstitutional and has failed to
win the people's support. An immediate general election is needed
to establish a new and credible government," they shouted.

In the Central Java city of Surakarta, 400 activists staged a
demonstration demanding an end to the military's political role.
They also objected to Pancasila's status as the sole state
ideology and called for the release of Moslem political
prisoners.

Similarly in Yogyakarta, hundreds of students from a number of
universities staged a demonstration on the Gadjah Mada University
campus to demand prosecution of Soeharto and an end to the
military's political role.

Still in Yogyakarta, 5,000 Moslems rallied in front of the
provincial legislative council building to express their view
that Pancasila should no longer be the country's sole ideology.

Back in Jakarta, around 200 alumni from several noted
universities in Jakarta, Bandung and Surabaya and human rights
activists and leaders of the opposition National Front group on
Friday declared that the Special Session "has failed to respond
to the people's demands."

Among the demands they voiced were the dissolution of Golkar
and the other two political parties -- the United Development
Party (PPP) and the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) -- both of
which were established under Soeharto's New Order regime.

In a discussion led by economist Syahrir, the activists also
demanded an end to corruption, collusion, and nepotism and called
for those guilty of abusing human rights to be brought to trial.

They said that unless their demands were met, they would
campaign for a national strike beginning on Nov. 10, the day the
Special Session is due to commence.

Also in Jakarta, the Communication Forum of All-Jakarta
Student Senates (FKSMJ) said was it opposed to the Special
Session because recommendations that they lodged with the
Assembly last month were not included on the session's agenda.

"Since our demands have not been accommodated, we hereby
declare our total opposition to the session and are planning non-
violent mass demonstrations to express our stance," Dandy, a
spokesman for a delegation of the forum said after separate
meetings with the Golkar and Armed Forces factions. (team)