By Abdullah Saleh
YOGYAKARTA — Riot police attacked about 100 people attending a forum on the need for independent youth organisations here on October 27.
Participants in the forum wanted to discuss alternatives to the Indonesian National Youth Committee (KNPI), the single official youth organisation, which is tightly controlled by the government. The Indonesian regime allows only one organisation to represent each social or occupational sector.
The October 27 open forum was sponsored by the National Independent Youth Solidarity Committee (KSPIN), comprising students from several provinces. The gathering was held at what is known as the Democracy Pavement outside an arts building in the main street of Yogyakarta. It was part of the lead-up to a larger demonstration planned for the next day to commemorate National Youth Pledge Day, the anniversary of the first national congress of nationalist anti-colonial youth, held in 1928.
The KSPIN wants the KNPI disbanded, an end to military domination of politics, an end to economic domination of Indonesia by foreign capital and an end to monopolistic practices.
Riot police equipped with truncheons and other weapons encircled the crowd as the forum was beginning around 3 p.m. They seized some posters and a statue and began to arrest and beat people. One of the first detained was the chairperson, Heli. He was seized around the neck, dragged by the hair and punched in the stomach.
Several journalists were arrested and their cameras broken. Eleven students and two journalists were arrested and not released until the next day. The KSPIN planned to protest against the police attack on October 30 outside the regional parliament.
Meanwhile in Jakarta on October 29, a group of students from the Institute for Social and Economic Studies called on President Suharto to step down. "We want changes", said Eggi Sudjana, who led a group of 50 students to the People's Representative Council (DPR) supporting a dissident former marine general, Ali Sadikin, as an alternative to Suharto.
The incumbent already has the backing of the armed forces, the governing Golkar party, and the Muslim PPP for another term. Only the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) has not yet formally endorsed his renomination.
The students urged PDI members not to nominate Suharto. Ali Sadikin is informal leader of the Petition of 50 group, which has also urged Suharto to retire.