Protesters Compare Situation to Titanic

by Andreas Harsono

Her friends, who circled inside a makeshift office, nodded as Lolita, a student of Chinese literature at the prestigious Indonesia University, quickly continued, "But the most important is how to read the film: the poor are always left behind and the rich are constantly saved."

For Lolita, however, the romantic movie's appeal was not the point. Far from it. Her concern was with the current political situation in Indonesia. The light-skinned girl compared the fate of the poor passengers to the poor of Indonesia, who are worst affected by the current economic crisis. "The rich escape the crisis, but not the poor," she said.

Her friends, who use camping tents to organize their day-to-day activities, are among a few thousand Indonesian students who stage daily rallies to protest President Suharto's government. Outside the tents, a long banner read, "Post Command of the People's Struggle for Reform."

It is a 24-hour clearinghouse where student activists discuss political issues and plan rallies. A few yards away, a small public kitchen displayed a sack of rice, boxes of instant noodles, cups of tea and coffee, several dirty pans, a kerosene stove and many scattered plastic wrappers.

"Even in our studies we have difficulties, as prices of paper, printer ribbon and books have increased tremendously. Once we used to spend only 1,500 rupiah for a big lunch. Now it is 3,000," said Wasi Gede, a 24-year-old student activist now working on his thesis.

Students like Lolita and Gede are angry young people, who began their protest when the 1,000-strong People's Consultative Assembly was about to re-elect President Suharto, Asia's longest serving ruler, for his seventh five-year term in office on March 10.

Some, Like Lolita, have idealistic views. But many others who have joined the protest say the crisis has severely affected their own lives. Students from smaller cities, such as Jember in the deep plain of eastern Java, or Solo, the ancient Javanese city around 500 kilometers east of Jakarta, complained about rising prices.

Indonesia University students on March 14 also sent a delegation to Indonesia's rubber-stamp parliament, formally asking the body not to re-elect Suharto. As expected, instead of listening to the students, the parliament, whose members were mostly handpicked by Suharto himself, re-elected Suharto and even gave him an extra-constitutional powers to do everything from dissolving parliament to appointing a successor.

"We also set up a team to monitor the new cabinet. In only a few days, some cabinet members have already had quite a few red marks," said student leader Rama Pratama, who led the students in a debate with the parliamentarians.

In Lampung on the western coast of Sumatra, more than 5,000 students and youths clashed with police officers on March 19, resulting more than 70 students detained, more than 100 hospitalized and six officers taken hostage. One day earlier, the students also clashed with the police in Solo after students insisted on penetrating the police blockade to go beyond their campus.

But many believe that the student movement here by itself is not going to pose a serious threat to the Suharto government. Suharto has the full support of the military. The students, on the contrary, are not organized. To succeed, they must also collaborate with other groups that want to spearhead political reforms in Indonesia. The military is preventing them from doing that.

Yet Rama and Gede also disbelieve the myth that Indonesian students of the 1960s single-handedly toppled the regime of the late President Sukarno. They said it was the army which actually posed the threat to Sukarno. The students were only used to spearhead the anti-Sukarno campaign and to help then Major Gen. Suharto take power.

"President Suharto will naturally go away. But the question is what's next? Is there a guarantee that his successor will become more democratic than Suharto?" asked Rama.

So far the military still lets the students hold their rallies, so long as they do it inside their campuses. But the students also understand that the military is trying to prevent the students from building an alliance with the people.

On the other side, the military also fully understand that they cannot push too far. A major mistake, for instance, such as killing dozens of students, might trigger even larger protests throughout Indonesia. It could also also trigger other groups, including the Muslim communities, to stand behind the students.

Indeed, just as student protesters of the 1960s learned, some officials here make slip- of- the- tongue statements that make the situation worse. The newly-appointed Minister of Education Wiranto Arismunandar, for instance, not more than a week after taking office, bluntly stated, "Students should stay within campus sites while demonstrating because they are amateurs, not professional politicians."

Within a day, students made him a laughingstock, staging fresh rallies just to show their anger against the minister. The Jakarta Post newspaper splashed a photo on its front page of a female student unfurling a banner that read, "Students are not amateurs. Don't ban students from politics."

"I'm not really that involved. My duty here is to prepare the logistics," said Lolita. Perhaps, she has learned that those who were trying to save the Titanic's doomed passengers had all lost their lives as well. But she doesn't chose a free ride instead.