Who's who behind the demonstrations

Who's who behind the demonstrations

JAKARTA (JP): The past few months have witnessed the rise of a
new crop of student leaders. Below are the views of just a few of
them from universities and colleges in Medan, Ujungpandang,
Surabaya, Surakarta, Yogyakarta, Bandung and Greater Jakarta.

Ridaya La Ode Ngkowe, chairman of the student senate at Gadjah
Mada University (UGM). Ridaya, born in Banggai, Central Sulawesi,
in 1974, organized the largest student demonstration this year on
March 11, when about 25,000 students from various universities in
Yogyakarta participated. An effigy of President Soeharto was
burned, an unthinkable act just several months before.

He cited the similar students' demands across the country:
change in the national leadership, the abolishment of five
political laws blamed for maintenance of the status quo, and the
enactment of a law against nepotism, corruption and collusion.
And, also, "simply, bring down prices".

He added that students wanted a peaceful movement, and hoped
confrontations with security personnel would not be repeated.

"We try our best to avoid confrontation ... yet we still want
to involve as many people as possible in our movement."

He claimed that more people from various walks of life had
joined demonstrations in Yogyakarta -- including housewives,
civil servants, teachers, and street singers.

"I'm convinced that when the masses (joining rallies) get
bigger, ABRI will chose to join the people because they are also
part of the people."

Ridaya said his activities worried his family, especially his
mother, who never had the opportunity for a formal education.

"I always try to convince them that I will be very careful."

He said several intelligence agents monitored the
boardinghouse where he stayed. He said several of his friends had
also warned him of his possible kidnapping by unidentified
people. "But I believe that this country is based on law.
Therefore, there should be nothing to worry about ... "

M. Tafrikhan Marzuki, chairman of the student senate at
Diponegoro University in Semarang, Central Java. Tafrikhan, son
of a Semarang farmer, is majoring in public administration at the
School of Social and Political Sciences.

Security officials have often questioned him on his background
and his family, said Tafrikhan, who claimed he was "ready to face
all risks".

His family, especially his father, supports his activities
provided he is acting in the interest of the people, he said.

The student, who is also secretary of the Central Java chapter
of the Association of Moslem Students (HMI), said he and fellow
students demanded that the People's Consultative Assembly
convene a special plenary meeting to demand accountability from
President Soeharto over the crisis.

He said that because the House of Representatives was
virtually "dead", "there is no other choice than for students to
take a lead in demanding reforms" of the system and its leaders.

Ahmad Muhibbuddin, chairman of the student senate at Syarif
Hidayatullah State Institute of Islamic Studies, Jakarta. Ahmad,
born in Pasuruan, East Java, is a student at the institute's
School of Theology (Ushuluddin), majoring in the interpretation
of Prophet Muhammad's sayings (hadits).

Ahmad said the student movement should continue to be a moral
movement, not a political one, until there was a really capable
candidate to succeed the President.

For now, "... It would be naive for us students to shift our
movement to a more political orientation".

Even if a "people's power" movement were realized, he said, it
would be useless if there was a vacuum of national leadership.

He said students would continue to consolidate among
themselves to prepare for "the right time".

Of the loose forum of student representatives in Greater
Jakarta called Forum Jakarta, Ahmad said there was a conscious
decision to have no coordinator at the helm.

"We do not want to make the same mistakes the 1966 student
movement made, namely creating elite figures who eventually held
elite political positions like ministerial posts and denied the
aspiration and mission of their own movement," he said.

Elvi Sumanti, general secretary of the student senate at
Sumatra Utara University (USU) in Medan and editor-in-chief of
the university's tabloid, Suara USU (USU's Voice). Eli, who was
born in Lhokseumawe, Aceh, 1973, is a student of USU's School of
Letters.

Eli was one of the representatives who rejected an invitation
to attend a dialog with Minister of Defense/Armed Forces
Commander Gen. Wiranto on April 18 in Kemayoran, Central Jakarta.

Students shared ABRI's view that reform must take place
gradually, she said, but saw no possibility for a solution to
emerge from such a dialog.

"The most important of our demands for reform is the moral
issue related to nepotism, collusion and corruption," Elvi said.

As students, she said, "we want to be in the front line to
state our stance on the crisis ... we are in chaos ... we need
immediate change and improvement."

USU has been involved in mass student actions since March 10,
and Elvi says they have made an impact, although the violence was
unintended.

"There has been a response to our voice, at least in the form
of the invitation to the dialog," she said.

Elvi, a daughter of a retired civil servant, suggests that
security officers should shoot into the air to avoid more
accidents.

"If students are only yelling and not being provocative, why
the shooting?" asked Elvi. Tear gas and clubs already cause
sufficient pain, said Elvi.

M. Nur Alamsyah, chairman of the student senate at Hasanuddin
University (Unhas) in Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi. He is a
student at the university's School of Political and Social
Sciences, studying public administration.

Alamsyah and other Unhas students flatly rejected an offer of
a meeting with Commander of the Army's Strategic Reserves Command
(Kostrad) Lt. Gen. Prabowo Subianto when the latter visited Ujung
Pandang recently.

Alamsyah said this was because students did not have much
confidence in the Armed Forces and the government, "who were both
trying hard to maintain the status quo."

He said demonstrations were ignited by the crisis, which were
"by-products of the New Order's zealous economic development"
which disregarded both equitable distribution of wealth and
efforts to introduce democracy.

Therefore, he said, student protests now centered on demands
to reform the governing system which had been based on power
rather than law.

Students also demanded that the People's Consultative Assembly
convene a special plenary meeting to change the country's
leadership.

"We demand all these things take place within two to six
months. If not, we will increase pressure further," he said.

Gede Mahendra, general secretary of the Family of Student
Actions at the University of Indonesia (UI), and a student in its
school of social and political sciences.

Gede observes the sense of crisis has yet to spread evenly
among his fellow students.

He said the exclusive nature of demonstrations, which have so
far involved only students, should be maintained "until UI
students were ready" to go out onto the streets and encourage
people to join their movement.

Gede said that many people were aware of what was happening
and had already decided whose side they were on, but had yet to
explicitly reveal their support.

Students needed to consolidate so that their movement would
not be aborted in the middle of their struggle, he said.

He recalled the movement of 1974 when student leaders were
arrested, the massed body dispersed and no further action
followed.

"I don't want my friends yelling along the streets and people
watching us like a parade without understanding what we're doing
it for," he said.

Gede said there were two objectives to be attained from
protests. Reform was the short term objective while "the long
term objective was to provide public political education."

Anas Urbaningrum, chairman of the Association of Moslem
Students (HMI). He graduated with honors from the School of
Social and Political Sciences, Airlangga University, Surabaya.
Anas, born in Blitar, East Java, in 1969, is now a postgraduate
student at the UI's School of Social and Political Sciences. He
recently organized a dialog between HMI students across the
country and government officials at the Taman Mini Indonesia
Indah.

Anas said the current demonstrations were still at an
embryonic stage and were not yet a moral force after such a long
period of political apathy on university campuses. "It's a
rebirth, but it has yet to mature."

He said the movement would become larger as awareness of the
objectives of reform grew, as strong leadership emerged among
students, and as alliances with other groups were formed.

Alliances would depend on political and economic developments,
he added. "It also depends on students' ability to explain to
other groups that reform is a must."

If student demands, such as the revocation of the package of
five laws on politics, are not fulfilled in a year, Anas said
student demonstrations would become larger.

"People power" might emerge if feelings accumulated but were
given no obvious outlet, he added.

To become effective, Anas said students should get support
from other groups, especially the Armed Forces.

History, he said, has shown that student movements of the
1970s and 1980s failed because of a lack of support from ABRI,
while the 1966 movement succeeded due to military help.

"Support from ABRI has not yet been secured, while endorsement
from other groups have only been in the form of moral support
such as that offered by Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah (both
large Moslem organizations)."

Anas said the government would never be able to stifle student
protests through dialog.

"It's not effective. I think there is a political motive
behind it," he said.

Anas said HMI would continue to press its 260,000 members
across the country to join demonstrations to demand thorough
economic, political and legal reforms.

"We want systemic reform. A change of a person in charge might
push for democratization. But I do not believe that if Soeharto
is replaced today, there would be democracy and reform of the
political mechanism.

Widdi Aswindi, secretary-general of the student task force at
the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), West Java. He majors
in planology. ITB is one of the few universities in the country
which do not recognize the concept of student senates as
stipulated by government regulations.

Widdi said ITB students always wanted to "conquer" public
spaces. He explained this was why they wanted during every
protest to march outside where "people should be free to interact
with one another".

Widdi urged his friends and other activists to study even
harder "to show that an activist should not necessarily perform
poorly". He said his grade point average was always above a 3 on
a scale up to 4.

Haryo Setyoko, secretary-general of the newly formed Coalition
of Indonesian Moslem Student Movements (KAMMI). Haryo, born in
Karanganyar, Central Java, in 1975, is a student at UGM's School
of Social and Political Sciences, majoring in communications.
KAMMI, formed in Malang, East Java, on March 29, has organized
massive student demonstrations in Jakarta, Bogor in West Java,
Malang and Surabaya in East Java, Solo and Semarang in Central
Java and Yogyakarta.

Haryo said, through demonstrations, students grouped in KAMMI
wanted to contribute a fresh perspective, based on Islamic
teaching, for better political and economic life.

The New Order government "has made a big mistake by allowing
liberal principles to dominate the economy" without limits on the
control of assets by the privileged, he said.

The political system, which he likened to "a monarchy" without
features of a modern state containing balancing mechanisms,
should also be corrected.

Haryo, a son of a high school teacher, also said KAMMI wanted
to stress the importance of moral reform to reduce corruption,
nepotism and collusion. He added that such messages would use
peaceful means.

"We will never force anyone to accept our view, but we will
continue to be a pressure group in the absence of significant
reforms.

"We will keep giving political enlightment to the people. But
everything will depend on when they want reforms to happen."

Haris Rusli Moti, chairman of the Committee of People's
Struggle for Reform (KPRP). Moti, born in Ternate, Maluku, in
1975, is a student in UGM's School of Letters, majoring in
archeology. KPRP was set up in a rally at UGM attended by about
2,000 students on April 2, which ended up in a clash with
security personnel. Eighty-eight students were reportedly
injured.

Moti said KPRP was established to involve as many people as
possible in the student movement and to use the "golden moment"
to promote democracy.

"The people must be involved because so far protests are still
confined with student labels and tend to be an elite movement."

Moti said KPRP used a step-by-step strategy: marketing the
issue of democracy, mobilizing people for demonstrations and
helping coordinate the setting up a "reform council" consisting
of "pro-reform parties".

"This reform council will form a transition committee,
dissolve the House of Representatives, and conduct a democratic
general election to form an independent House."

The new House would initiate total reforms, he said.

When people already have increased understanding of their
political rights and the need for democratization, it would be
easier for KPRP to mobilize them to join student protests, he
said.

He said gradual reforms, as promised by the government, would
fail to solve the crisis of confidence.

Dadan Suparjo, chairman of the student senate at Airlangga
University in Surabaya. Born in March 1974, the calm-looking
Dadan was among the activists who agreed to attend the dialog
with 15 ministers in Kemayoran, Jakarta.

"The dialog was not an aim, but just one way to convey our
aspirations. The talks were lively but ministers were wavering in
their responses. There was no similarity in language and
perception," said the student who hails from Ciamis, West Java
and is majoring in political science.

"Economic reform cannot be separated from political reform,"
he said. Students' demands should be responded to without
prejudice, "more so in a time when both domestic and
international confidence in the government is low." (team)