Thousands join rally in reform protest
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Close to 6,000 protesters took to the streets of Jakarta on Tuesday to mourn the failure of the reform movement to bring about change after its initial success in removing former authoritarian president Soeharto from power five years ago.
In a march coinciding with National Awakening Day, the demonstrators protested against the ruling coalition led by President Megawati Soekarnoputri, which they said had betrayed the reform spirit.
As former president Soeharto stepped down in disgrace on May 21, 1998, Indonesians agreed on six reform items: Sending Soeharto and his corrupt cronies to trial, amending the Constitution, upholding supremacy of the law, removing the military from its political role, imposing regional autonomy and establishing democracy.
"But look at what has happened. Soeharto has never been brought to trial for the abuses during his ruthless 30-year, regime that only brought poverty, and a convict is still allowed to chair the legislative body," student activist Fachri Hamzah said.
Soeharto was sent to court on corruption charges in 2000, but the judges ruled that he was too ill to stand trial.
Last year the Central Jakarta District Court sentenced house speaker Akbar Tanjung, who is also leader of the Golkar party, to three years in jail for helping steal Rp 40 billion intended to feed the poor. Though the High Court upheld the verdict, Akbar has not been jailed and still retains his power.
Fachri said repression had returned as those who dared to speak out against the president were jailed for one year "while convicted corruptors who embezzled trillions of rupiah from the state only got few months."
During his speech, on a truck converted into a stage, at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle, Fachri said politicians who earlier claimed to be reformists did not aim to create a better Indonesia but were only interested in perpetuating power.
Fachri is the first chairman of the Indonesian Muslim Students Action Front (KAMMI). As a student activist he played an important role in the reform movement in 1998, a year in which a number of students were killed during protests.
The demonstrators, comprising the Greater Jakarta Students Executive Body, KAMMI and a range of other groups, including the Society Against State Assets Takeover, the Society Against Corruption and Opposing Youth Movement, chanted demands for Megawati and Vice President Hamzah Haz to resign.
Traffic was blocked during the demonstration but congestion eased as the demonstrators moved their protests to the front of the Presidential Palace. Four police armored vehicles equipped with water canons watched over proceedings.
The students plan to hold further demonstrations in the capital on Wednesday when students from West Java, who are on a 200-kilometer march, are expected to arrive in Jakarta to celebrate Soeharto's resignation.
The students did not provide details of their intended route for fear police would block their way.