Student demos were once more in the focus of the public during the last three days. This time they voiced dissatisfaction over rice prices, stopped military trucks recruted to transport rice and demanded abolishment of the Armed Forces' (ABRI) dual role. Different from the student actions in the period January - May 1998, this time the scene presented a view of predominantly new students.
Friday's student demonstration were joined by hundreds of students of STIESIA and UPN in Surabaya. Clad in their university jackets, and led by senior students, they moved seperately from their campus in the Ngagel and Rungkut region.
Students of STIESIA moved first to the East Java Dolog Office, creating a traffic jam in the neighborhood of Jl. Ahmad Yani. In their dialogue with the Head of Dolog, Ir. Andy Chairudin, the students blamed the agency for failing to lower rice prices. They also disapproved the use of military trucks in the market operations of Dolog. They demanded the use of privately owned trucks to lessen the military role and provide wider opportunities to the public.
In Jakarta, about 300 students of the Indonesian Christian University (UKI) demonstrated on Jalan Mayjen Sutoyo, in front of their campus. This action was also held by new students, under supervision of many seniors they were trained to scream and yell reformation songs. Beside this, they demanded the establishment of the Indonesian People Committee and immediate action of government to lower the prices of basic essentials.
A public forum was held around 13.30 which went smoothly until 15.00. The public dialogue was watched by several Policemen who were coping with the traffic which, at some time, came to a standstill in front of the UKI campus.
Meanwhile, around 100 people of the Lembaga Musyawarah Adat Masyarakat Irian Jaya (Traditional Conscensus of Irian Jaya People) Jakarta, demonstrated at the Foreign Ministry in Jakarta. They demanded a review of the polling system (Pepera) of 1969 which was opposed to the oneman voting system. They rejected Foreign Minister Ali Alatas' statement which held that Irian Jaya's integration process into the Republic, had been done in a transparent way.
They were later received by the Informations Director of the Foreign Ministry, Ghaffar Fadil and the Director American Affairs, Samudro Sriwidjaja, because the Foreign Affairs Minister, Ali Alatas, was not available. Both officials promised to convey the aspirations of the Irian Jaya people to the Foreign Minister. The demonstrating crowd dispersed of their own accord in an orderly way.
Young people of the Antiterrorist Student Forum of the Technical Faculty Muhammadiyah University in Jakarta, opposed and denounced the recent bombing of Sudan and Afghanistan by the USA. They opined that these acts were held only to diverse world attention from Bill Clinton's sexual scandal. Their protests succeeded in that, three demonstrators were received by the embassy staff.