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.