Thousands join rally in reform protest

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.