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