A group of student who call themselves South Sumatra Students' Committee for Concern of the nation staged a rally Thursday to oppose the presence of the founder of Great Indonesia Movement Party, Prabowo Subianto, in the province.

Prabowo is expected to appear at the party's open campaign in Palembang, South Sumatra, on Saturday.

Rally coordinator Akbar Ikramsyah told Antara newswire that Prabowo was not welcomed in the province because his role in the 1998 kidnapping of a number of pro-democracy student activists. At the time Subianto was commander of the army's special force, Kopassus.

"We reject Prabowo's visit to South Sumatra because the human right violation case in which he was involved has until now yet to be solved," Ikramsyah said.

He said the students staged their rally to make the people realize that the upcoming legislative elections on April 9, 2009 should proceed democratically, safely, and fairly.

Most importantly, he added, those contesting the elections should be clean from any indication of human right violations, and that the supremacy of the law would be upheld.

According Ikramsyah, the students staged the rally to protest against national authorities who had failed to try human right violators in the country in the fairest possible manner.

Meanwhile, Prabowo said in his political oration at the Bung Karno sport stadium in Jakarta on Tuesday that he was only a "wayang" (puppet in Javanese traditional shadow plays) in the party's endeavor to bring about change for a better future for Indonesia.

Prabowo said there was no KKN (corruption, collusion, and nepotism) in Gerindra but it was his brother, Hasjim Djojohadikusumo, who was the brain behind the party's formation.

On the occasion, Prabowo said Gerindra was ready to make a change for a better Indonesian in the next 50 years. Therefore, he urged all Gerindra supporters and sympathizers across the country to use their right to vote in the April 9 legislative elections.