The students' voice

The students' voice

From Rakyat Merdeka

Gen. Wiranto apparently has difficulty in giving a reason why
students hold demonstrations, most recently on rejecting the
state security bill, other than accusing them that their
demonstrations are not purely motivated since they are guided by
other sides and financed by certain groups. Another reason is
that the students merely form a small group in the community
which does not agree with the state security bill, implying that
the rest of the community, which is far greater in number, is in
agreement.

I am in the category of students' parents and am of the
opinion that the students' voice is the people's voice. The
students' demands, through various demonstrations, are the
people's demands. Why? Because the students are the community
group which has access to convey people's aspirations through
demos. We have seen this since long ago: the colonial times, the
period toward independence, the toppling of the Old Order, the
Malari incident (turbulence occurring in January 1974) and the
efforts to eradicate the New Order's corrupt regime.

If there is a government policy that is de facto contrary to
people's wishes, especially if there are indications that it is
closely linked with endeavors to perpetuate the regime that is
unwanted by the people, must the whole population take to the
streets to reject the policy?

J. TOWEL

Jakarta