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)