Yogyakarta's Sultan leads massive reform rally
YOGYAKARTA (JP): Yogyakarta's Sultan Hamengkubuwono X led a peaceful rally of at least 600,000 in this ancient city yesterday to demand President Soeharto's resignation.
The rally, in which mainly students participated, gathered in front of the palace, located in the southern part of the city, after commemorating National Awakening Day at their own campuses.
The long march was organized by the Yogyakarta Residents Movement in cooperation the Yogyakarta Military District.
Hamengkubuwono X, who earlier attended a free speech forum at the University of Gadjah Mada's campus, said he was ready to lead the people's movement for reform in the city.
"I am ready to be present among you, to be in the front row and will not retreat. The government's power has ended. The people have long suffered. It is time for them to get their rights back," he said.
The sultan and governor KGPAA Paku Alam VIII said during the rally that the government had long abused its power and urged the Armed Forces to join the student reform movement.
They also called on all residents to support the student movement and help avoid violence during rallies.
In Surabaya, East Java, at least 50 students were injured in a clash with antiriot police when students marched off their campuses in the city.
The victims were brought to Soetomo General Hospital for medical treatment.
The riot occurred when hundreds of students, many riding motorcycles, resisted a ban from security personnel against marching around the city.
Department stores, shops and offices throughout the city were closed due to fresh rumors of riots circulating a day earlier.
In Purwokerto, Central Java, scuffles between protesters and security personnel occurred when 50,000 students marched off their campuses.
No injuries were reported in the incidents.
In Medan, North Sumatra, tens of thousands of students occupied the provincial council building, causing damage to several parts of the building.
Photographs of Soeharto, chairs, tables and windows in several rooms were badly damaged.
Two youths, involved in the vandalization, were sent by students to the municipal police for investigation.
In Semarang, Central Java, hundreds of thousands of people and students took peacefully to streets to demand Soeharto's resignation.
The students held a free speech forum in front of the governor's office, featuring intellectuals and local businesspeople.
Local businesspeople contributed buses to transport students, while households provided them with rice and clean water.
In Bandung, West Java, hundreds took to streets and assembled in front of the governor's office and Gasibu field to demand Soeharto's resignation and comprehensive political and economic reforms.
Offices, shops and department stores in the city were all closed with their fences covered with banners reading "Supporter of peaceful reform" and "Reform without violence".
Security personnel and traffic police were busy handling traffic jams in a number of streets because of the mass rally.
Lt. Col. M. Anwar, chief of the Bandung Military District, said he was very happy that the student rally did not deteriorate into riots.
Students from the Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) rejected the National Committee for Reform, recently offered as a reform measure by Soeharto.
ITB rector Lilik Hendrajaya said in front of thousands of students at the campus that such a committee would be ineffective in solving the crisis of confidence the government is facing.
He said the best solution to the crisis was for the President to step down, and for Vice President B.J. Habibie to be given the task to hold general elections to elect a new president and a new vice president.
In Bogor, West Java, thousands of students from several universities and institutes in the city thronged the local provincial council building to demand Soeharto's resignation.
In Ujungpandang, South Sulawesi, more than 150,000 students and youths assembled in the Karebosi field in the city demanding Soeharto's resignation.
Newly appointed Wirabuana Military Command chief Maj. Gen. Suaidi Marasabessy, who spoke at a free speech forum, said that reform needed to be carried out constitutionally.
Syahruddin Kaseng, rector of the Ujungpandang Teachers Training Institute, called for total reform. (team)