UI abandons street protests
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)