University students plan to hold meeting in Bali

University students plan to hold meeting in Bali

JAKARTA (JP): University students from across the country are
scheduled to hold a five-day forum at the University of Udayana
in Bali beginning on Sunday to formulate a new platform for
Indonesia.

A member of the organizing committee, Ari, said here on
Tuesday representatives from several universities had confirmed
their participation in the forum, called Rembug Mahasiswa
Indonesia (Indonesian Students Dialog).

Representatives of student groups from Aceh, Lampung, West and
East Nusa Tenggara and several other areas across the country
have confirmed their participation in the event, Ari said.

"We only invited progressive student movements which have
consistently fought for the probe of Soeharto, an end to the
military's dual function and the forming of a transitional
government," said Ari, a member of the Student Solidarity
Committee based at the University of Udayana.

He estimated some 200 representatives from various student
groups would attend the March 28 to April 1 forum, whose theme is
the consolidation of Indonesia's student movements to create a
new Indonesia. Forum participants will finance their own trips,
he added.

Organizers of the forum released a statement which stipulated
participating students must not receive financial contributions
from outside parties, including contestants in the upcoming
general election, in order to avoid compromising their
independence.

Therefore, Ari said, no other parties, including students from
the military academy, would be invited to participate in the
forum

"Bali was chosen as the venue for the meeting to help
demonstrate student movements cover a wide area of the country,"
Ari said on Tuesday during a meeting at ABA-ABI Foreign Language
and Banking College here.

Ari said the main reason the forum was being held was the
unsolved unrest which continued to occur across the country.

According to Ari, the upcoming forum was not a
"countermeeting" to a meeting held earlier this month in
Sawangan, south of here, by a number of student groups.

"We have no problem with that meeting."

During the Sawangan meeting, two representatives from the
military academy were invited to participate in the talks.

The focus of the upcoming forum in Bali "will be to formulate
a common platform -- according to students' views -- for
Indonesia", Ari added.

A photo exhibition and a film on the student movement also
will be presented at the forum in Bali. (01)