Students arrested as Suharto accepts Try

Students arrested as Suharto accepts Try

Forty students demonstrated outside the Indonesian parliament on March 10 to protest against the nomination and election of ex-general Suharto as president.

The demonstrators, carrying placards attacking recent price rises and rises in MPs' salaries, were arrested as soon as they unfurled their banners and raised their placards. The parliament had been surrounded by army and police units for over a week.

According to Green Left's sources in Jakarta, the students were released the next morning. Among those arrested was Yenny Damianto, who visited Australia in 1991 to participate in the Beyond Borders environmental tour of Victorian high schools.

Inside the parliament, the show proceeded as planned. This time, however, the scenario was determined by the armed forces leadership rather than Suharto. The president was unable to get any of the parliamentary fractions to nominate an additional candidate for vice-president. The military's candidate, former armed forces chief Try Sutrisno, was therefore elected unopposed (as was Suharto).

The ongoing struggle between Suharto and the armed forces is now likely to focus on the appointment of the defence minister in the next Cabinet. The current minister is the main plotter against Suharto, ex-general Benny Murdani.

The other key position to be decided is chief of staff of the army, the second most powerful position after commander in chief of the armed forces. Sources in Jakarta say that the main candidates are Suharto's cousin-in-law, General Wismoyo, and General Feisal Tanjung, reputedly favoured by the anti-Suharto establishment.

From GLW issue 92