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)