Student protesters on Monday burned effigies of former president Suharto and parliament speaker/Golkar Party chairman Akbar Tanjung.
Students from the University of Indonesia (UI) and members of the Indonesian Muslim Students Action Front (KAMMI) rallied in Jakarta to warn the public against the possibility of Suharto's notoriously corrupt New Order regime making at comeback at this year's elections, state news agency Antara reported.
The UI students set fire to effigies of Suharto and Tanjung as symbols of the New Order regime.
Tanjung, who loyally served Suharto in several cabinets, is vying to become Indonesia's next president or vice president. In September 2002, he was convicted of corruption for embezzling Rp40 billion ($4.7 million) in state funds that were supposed to have been used to buy food for the poor. But the Supreme Court last month overturned the conviction, paving the way for Tanjung to run for office. Analysts claimed the ruling was a clear indication of the rampant corruption within the Indonesian judiciary.
Indonesians will go to the polls on April 5 to elect national, provincial, regional and district legislators. Several of the 24 political parties qualified to contest the election have been linked to the Suharto regime.
KAMMI urged the public not to vote for such parties. They also said the current political status quo must be rejected because it is dominated by remnants of the Suharto regime. The students also said the nation's incumbent political leaders had failed to improve the well-being of the public.
Tutut Denies Suharto Is Faking Illness Suharto's eldest daughter Siti Hardiyanti 'Tutut' Rukmana on Sunday strongly denied her father was faking his alleged poor health in order to evade trial for corruption. She made the denial in Bali before attending a seminar on issues facing the resort island's tourism industry.
Tutut said that based on medical examinations conducted by dozens of specialists, Suharto is genuinely ill. She said her father's difficulty in speaking also proves he is in poor health.
Suharto (82) ruled Indonesia for 32 years before being forced to resign in May 1998 after deadly riots, pro-democracy protests and economic collapse.
Since his resignation, he has been admitted to hospital several times because of various ailments, including three strokes, arteriosclerosis and unstable blood pressure. He has also had a pacemaker fitted and his appendix removed.
South Jakarta District Court, which has been described as handing down the best verdicts that money can buy, in September 2000 suspended a $571 million corruption case against the former president after doctors claimed he was permanently mentally and physically unfit to face trial.
But Suharto has been spotted in apparently good health on several occasions over recent years, prompting speculation his lawyers, family and doctors have exaggerated the extent of his health problems.
Questions were also raised last year, when it was revealed Suharto had ordered the formation of a new political party, the Concern for the Nation Functional Party (PKPB),which has nominated Tutut for the presidency.
Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad visited Suharto earlier this year and said he was well, although suffering from impaired speech caused by his three strokes.
The Supreme Court has ruled that Suharto must stand trial if his health improves.