Jakarta – The majority of the Indonesian people do not believe the government's claim that the student movement has lost its purity, or that it had begun to represent the interests of a small group of people bent on bringing down the government of President B.J. Habibie, according to a recent poll.

Some 73.5 percent of the people questioned believe that the students have continued with their demonstrations because their demands have not been met, while 28.5 percent said the continued demonstrations were a reflection of growing public discontent. Around 18 percent of the respondents believe the protests reflected ongoing power struggle among the nation's political elites.

The poll, with 1,168 respondents picked randomly in Jakarta, Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Padang and Medan, was jointly commissioned by The Jakarta Post and D&R, a weekly newsmagazine, and conducted by the Resource Productivity Center. The responses to the polls exceed 100 percent in several cases because respondents were allowed to give more than one answer.

The students' street protests may have inconvenienced many road users in Jakarta, but that seems to be the least concern of the respondents. More than half of the respondents said their greatest fear about the continuing demonstrations is that they could get out of control and lead to massive unrest, as happened during the Nov. 13 Black Friday tragedy and the unrest the following day.

Around 31 percent of the respondents fear that the protests would drive business investors away, and 22.3 percent say the protests could sow the seeds of national disintegration. Only 4.4 percent of respondents say the protests are disrupting their daily activities.

The polls indicate wide approval for the students' demands. For example, around 42 percent of the respondents believe that the students have been more effective than the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) in pressing the government to launch an investigation into the wealth of former president Soeharto. Around 25 percent say that the movement has been more effective than the MPR in pressing for an end to ABRI's institutionalized sociopolitical role.

The government says that 13 people were killed in separate clashes between students and security forces on Nov. 12 and Nov. 13. The students, joined by ordinary people, were marching toward the MPR building where a special session was underway to endorse Habibie's reform agenda. The conflict reached its climax on the night of Nov. 13 when security forces opened fire on unarmed students.

In the aftermath of the incident, the ABRI leadership claimed that the students were instigated by a group of government critics who had issued a statement calling for the establishment of a transitional government and assembly. These critics are now under investigation on charges of treason.

The military has also claimed that agent provocateurs agitated the mob into the clashes, and has denied that live bullets taken from dead students belonged to any of its units deployed during the conflict.

The Black Friday tragedy was seen live by many people throughout the country, courtesy of aggressive private TV stations. Horrifying as it may be, this rare privilege afforded viewers the opportunity to form their own opinions in the face of massive propaganda by both the government and its critics in the aftermath of the tragedy.

The poll shows that a clear majority of the respondents, 62 percent, dismiss the government's claim that the students were manipulated. Only 36 percent believe the government's claim, with 1.7 percent undecided. Of those who reject the government's claim of manipulation, 45 percent say the students are not that ignorant or easily manipulated, and 31 percent say that the student movement has retained its purity as a moral voice.

When asked who they think was most responsible for the tragedy, more than 65 percent of the respondents point their fingers at Minister of Defense and Security/Armed Forces Commander Gen. Wiranto, and nearly 24 percent say Habibie should take the blame. Nearly 15 percent say the two field commanders at the time, the Jakarta Police chief and the Jakarta Military commander, were responsible. Only 5.9 percent of the respondents believe the students were to blame, and even fewer respondents, 3.8 percent, blame the tragedy on antigovernment critics now being investigated for treason.

On the question of what triggered the Black Friday tragedy, 49 percent say both the security forces and students lost control, but nearly 33 percent blame the low discipline of ABRI members.