UI abandons street protests
JAKARTA (JP): University of Indonesia (UI) students decided on Monday to continue their struggle for justice in the killing of a fellow student without resorting to street protests.
Yap Yun Hap, a student of UI's Department of Electrical Engineering, was shot on Friday amid two days of rallies protesting the newly approved state security bill. A fact-finding team said on Monday that security personnel were responsible for the shooting.
"We will find a way to investigate the case and we will form our own investigative team," a member of the UI Students Executive Board, Arie Wibowo, said.
None of the investigative teams already formed by other organizations, including one led by National Institute of Sciences reasercher Hermawan Sulistyo which held a news conference on Monday, have contacted the executive board about the case, Arie said.
To support the investigation process, forensic experts from Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital have promised that the bullet removed from Yun Hap's body will be stored as important evidence.
"We are still in mourning. We will decide what steps to take to investigate the case after our three days of mourning are over. We will also demand that the military be held responsible for the shooting," Arie said.
He added that the executive board would not let the incident be forgotten like the killing of four Trisakti University students last year.
Students also died during mass protests at Atma Jaya University last November.
Police say Yun Hap was one of eight people killed last week but his death attracted considerable media and public interest.
Hundreds of UI students from the university's two campuses in Depok and Salemba held a solidarity ceremony at the main campus in Depok in memory of Yun Hap on Monday.
During the ceremony the students changed the name of the main street on the campus from Jl. Lingkar UI to Jl. Yun Hap.
The students, who skipped classes for the ceremony, gathered in the street and burned a military jacket.
"The burning is a symbol that we are against militarism but it does not means that we hate the military," Arie explained.
Yun Hap's father, Yap Pit Sing said that he was counting on UI to clarify the facts of his son's killing.
"Now I can accept the death of my son and that he has become a martyr to his friends in this struggle," Yap said in a short speech after the burning of the jacket.
The students, wearing their university's yellow jackets, closed the ceremony by conducting a joint prayer for Yun Hap.
Yun Hap was a third year student with a high grade point average. He was also a student activist and was arrested last April during a rally protesting the dual role of the military.
UI will attempt to solve the case and bring the perpetrator to justice, Arie added. (04)