Trisakti tragedy remembered

Trisakti tragedy remembered

JAKARTA (JP): Thousands of students from universities in
cities across the country staged peaceful street rallies on
Wednesday to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the fatal
shooting of four Trisakti University students.

No clashes occurred during the rallies.

In Jakarta, more than 1,000 students from universities and
student organizations took to the capital's main thoroughfares to
observe the May 12 tragedy, watched by scores of security troops.

Unfurling banners and posters, students from the Trisakti
Student Family (Kamtri) and the City Forum (Forkot), toured the
city in dozens of buses, causing heavy traffic congestion on Jl.
S. Parman, West Jakarta, and Jl. Gatot Subroto, South Jakarta.

Other student groups, who recently threatened to mobilize
students in a mass rally, did not show up on Wednesday.

At 11:40 a.m. approximately 500 Kamtri members in a convoy of
seven buses left Trisakti University's campus on Jl. Kyai Tapa in
Grogol, West Jakarta.

Passing the West Jakarta Military District Headquarters, two
students disembarked from a bus, demanding soldiers on duty lower
the Indonesian flag to half-mast to commemorate the death of the
four students.

The soldiers complied with the request. Officials at the
nearby West Jakarta prosecutor's office, who witnessed the
incident, lowered the flag at their office to half-mast too.

The buses attempted to take the Grogol-Cawang toll road and
head for the People's Consultative Assembly and House of
Representatives (MPR/DPR) building. However, they were blocked by
at least 100 riot police officers at the toll road near the Mal
Taman Anggrek shopping complex in West Jakarta.

The students distributed orchids to the officers, demanding
they be allowed to proceed to the MPR/DPR complex.

Upon learning that their buses were blocked by riot police,
some of the students then contacted chief of the West Jakarta
police precinct Timur Pradopo to complain about the treatment.

Timur arrived at the scene a few minutes later and ordered his
men to allow the buses to continue their journey.

After a further one-hour delay caused by a blockade of dozens
of riot police in the Tomang area, the students finally arrived
in front of the MPR/DPR complex.

"We demand the Trisakti tragedy and other violent cases in the
country be solved," one of the students said in his speech,
adding that other tragedies, including the Semanggi incident,
which also claimed student lives, still needed thorough
investigation.

With the help of Mar'ie Muhammad, the outspoken minister in
Soeharto's Cabinet, the national flag at the MPR/DPR building was
also lowered to half-mast at 3:30 pm in response to students'
demands.

The Trisakti tragedy erupted on May 12 last year when four
Trisakti students were shot dead by security personnel who opened
fire on demonstrating students.

The shooting sparked major riots, forcing President Soeharto,
who had been in power for 32 years, to quit on May 21.

More than 700 Forkot members in at least 25 buses reached the
toll road in front of the MPR/DPR building at about 5 p.m.

A group of 50 senior and junior high school students under the
Jakarta Student Alliance also joined the rally in two buses.

All the students left the toll road in front of the MPR/DPR
building at about 7 p.m.

At least another 150 students staged a demonstration in front
of the Attorney General's Office in the Blok M area, South
Jakarta, demanding the investigation into the shooting of the
Trisakti students continue.

A commemoration of the Trisakti tragedy was also conducted in
Jambi, Sumatra. Antara reported that at least 20 students visited
the Jambi mayoralty and lowered the flag to half-mast.

Mayoralty officials did not appear to object to the students'
action, the news agency reported.

In Palangka Raya, Central Kalimantan, dozens of students
grouped under the Palangka Raya student group (Gampar) visited
the local legislative council to lower the flag to half-mast.

The students subsequently raised the flag, after a veteran
soldier who happened to be in the area protested their action.

Students also lowered flags to half-mast in government offices
in Semarang, Central Java.

Approximately 1,000 local students also staged a demonstration
and free-speech forum in the compound of the provincial
legislative building.

They demanded President B.J. Habibie and Minister of Defense
and Security/Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Gen. Wiranto
immediately prosecute those involved in the massacre of the
students last year.

In Purwokerto, 700 students from universities joined a
commemoration of the shooting which began at the STAIN Islamic
Institute.

They later marched to the local military office, unfurling a
banner before the military office that read: "The deaths of our
four fellow students are the responsibilities of the Indonesian
Military."

They later marched in the streets of the town for four hours,
closely watched by security forces.

In Bogor, at least 200 students from the Bogor Institute of
Agriculture demanded Gen. Wiranto issue a public apology over the
tragedy and other human rights violations.

In Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, the day was marked by some
200 women activists. They also took to the streets.

The group demanded renewed investigation into the Trisakti
incident and called for the military to stop all forms of
violence against members of society. (jun/ylt/har/24/27/45)