Twelve soldiers charged over Ujungpandang riots

Twelve soldiers charged over Ujungpandang riots

UJUNGPANDANG, South Sulawesi (JP): The regional military
command has presented prosecutors wih dossiers on the 12 soldiers
accused of "responding excessively" to the recent student
demonstrations, in which three people died.

Chief of the Wirabuana Regional Military Command Maj. Gen.
Soelatin said that the dossiers were presented on Thursday, and
that the prosecutors are currently studying them before
proceeding with the military tribunal.

Three of the 12 soldiers are high-ranking officers. "If they
are proven guilty, they will be punished," Soelatin said.
However, "we cannot say now whether they are guilty. We should
hold on to the presumption of innocence until they are proven
guilty."

The soldiers will be charged with what Soelatin called an
"excessive response" to a flurry of violent demonstrations that
involved an estimated 10,000 students from various universities
in Ujungpandang.

During the demonstrations, partially marked by vandalism on
the part of the students, three died, reportedly because they
plunged into a river as they tried to evade the soldiers chasing
them. The fatalities then triggered a wave of student
demonstrations in many cities, including Jakarta, Bandung,
Yogyakarta and Semarang.

On Thursday in Jakarta, Coordinating Minister for Political
Affairs and Security Soesilo Soedarman questioned the wisdom of
many street demonstrations, including those called as "shows of
solidarity" for the dead students in Ujungpandang.

Soesilo argued that the issues the demonstrators raised were
already being handled by the government. He pointed out that the
demonstrations aggravated the issues and often created the wrong
consequences.

Soesilo also said that "guidelines" already exist for holding
demonstrations, including ones that say they should be staged by
only a handful of people.

Soesilo's statement, as well as the government's plan to
establish a law on street demonstrations, invited various
reactions from observers.

Bambang Widjojanto, of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation,
said yesterday that the protection of people's rights should be
the first priority in the process of law-making. The rights
include one which allows people to express their opinion and to
assemble.

"Laws should be made as an instrument of the people to control
the behavior of the administration," he said.

Sociologist Ariel Heryanto in Salatiga, Central Java, said
that establishing laws on street demonstrations would not improve
the situation if they fail to get to the root of the problems.
Besides, he told The Jakarta Post, laws often go unenforced.

Ariel expressed sympathy with the students, saying that they
took to the streets only out of accumulated disappointment.

"They were not only demonstrating at the deaths of fellow
students in Ujungpandang, but also for many other social and
political problems that have been left unresolved," he said.

He said the state should guarantee the students' right to
assemble, in accordance with the Constitution.

Bambang said it is more urgent for the government to resolve
the problems which caused the students to take to the streets in
the first place. (20/16/swe)