USA Today
May 13, 1999

Indonesian students mark death of four

                   JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Thousands of Indonesian students prayed,
                   delivered speeches and raised their fists Wednesday to mark the one-year
                   anniversary of the slaying of four students shot by police at a
                   pro-democracy demonstration.

                   Posthumously proclaimed heroes of reform, the students who were killed
                   May 12, 1998, had been caught up in a swell of campus protests against
                   then-President Suharto.

                   Their deaths helped trigger citywide riots that led to the ouster of the
                   authoritarian leader nine days later. Despite his credentials as a Suharto
                   protege, new President B.J. Habibie nonplused his critics by leading
                   Indonesia on a transition to democracy.

                   At least 3,000 students marked the anniversary Wednesday. Students in blue
                   jackets gathered for a commemoration at Trisakti University, the site of the
                   shooting. Some moved onto the streets, and at times, the scene echoed the
                   heady protests in the last months of Suharto's rule.

                   Students locked arms and marched on a toll road. They sat on bus roofs and
                   waved red and white Indonesian flags. They planted flowers in the lapels of
                   riot police who blocked them and sang a protest ballad that begins, ''The
                   Indonesian armed forces are useless.''

                   Students staged smaller anti-violence demonstrations outside the Defense
                   Ministry and the Jakarta office of the United Nations.

                   In the Java island city of Bandung, two students were injured when security
                   forces blocked 200 campus activists from entering the state-run radio
                   station. The students were demanding a more thorough investigation of the
                   Trisakti shootings.

                   Many students and the families of the victims remain frustrated because of
                   what they perceive as the military's unwillingness to prosecute those
                   responsible.

                   Critics say the investigation focused on lower-ranking scapegoats to
                   appease demands for reform.

                   Eighteen police were arrested in the Trisakti case, but only four have been
                   convicted. They were sentenced to terms of less than a year in jail for
                   disobeying the orders of their commanders. There have been no homicide
                   charges.

                   ''We demand that the military show who shot the students last year,'' said
                   one protester Haimawan Sukna.

                   During the day of protest, squads of riot police with sticks and shields
                   yielded and allowed student buses from several universities to stop in front
                   of Parliament. The atmosphere was relaxed, with some police playing chess
                   on the lawn of the green-domed building.

                   In November, troops clashed again with students near Parliament as
                   protesters demanded that Suharto be tried for corruption, and denounced the
                   government's decision to allow the military to maintain a powerful, albeit
                   diminished, role in politics.

                   At least 16 people died, including 10 students. Many were shot on main
                   roads near Parliament.

                   Today, those issues remain unresolved: An investigation of 77-year-old
                   Suharto appears to have stalled and the military has been granted 38
                   appointed seats, half its previous number, in the 500-member Parliament.
                   General elections will be held June 7.

                   The student movement splintered and faded this year, especially after
                   prominent opposition leaders who prefer a gradual approach to
                   democratization urged campus activists to return to their studies.

                   On Wednesday, the demands of some students on the street seemed out of
                   touch with Indonesia's political mood. ''Revolution now!'' they shouted.