Thousands Protest In Indonesia

Thousands of Indonesian students prayed, delivered speeches and raised their fists Wednesday to mark the one-year anniversary of the slaying of four students shot by police at a pro-democracy demonstration.

Posthumously proclaimed heroes of reform, the students had been caught up in a swell of campus protests against then-President Suharto.

Their deaths helped trigger citywide riots that led to the ouster of the authoritarian leader nine days later. Despite his credentials as a Suharto protege, new President B.J. Habibie nonplused his critics by leading Indonesia on a transition to democracy.

At least 3,000 students marked the anniversary Wednesday. Dressed in blue jackets, the students gathered for a commemoration at Trisakti University, the site of the shooting. Some moved onto the streets, and at times, the scene echoed the heady protests in the last months of Suharto's rule.

Students locked arms and marched on a toll road. They sat on bus roofs and waved red and white Indonesian flags. They planted flowers in the lapels of riot police who blocked them and sang a protest ballad that begins, "The Indonesian armed forces are useless."

Students staged smaller anti-violence demonstrations outside the Defense Ministry and the Jakarta office of the United Nations.

In the Java island city of Bandung, two students were injured when security forces blocked 200 campus activists from entering the state-run radio station. The students were demanding a more thorough investigation of the Trisakti shootings.

Many students and the families of the victims remain frustrated because of what they perceive as the military's unwillingness to prosecute those responsible.

Critics say the investigation focused on lower-ranking scapegoats to appease demands for reform.

Eighteen police were arrested in the Trisakti case, but only four have been convicted. They were sentenced to terms of less than a year in jail for disobeying the orders of their commanders. There have been no homicide charges.

"We demand that the military show who shot the students last year," said one protester Haimawan Sukna.

During the day of protest, squads of riot police with sticks and shields yielded and allowed student buses from several universities to stop in front of Parliament. The atmosphere was relaxed, with some police playing chess on the lawn of the green-domed building.

In November, troops clashed again with students near Parliament as protesters demanded that Suharto be tried for corruption, and denounced the government's decision to allow the military to maintain a powerful, albeit diminished, role in politics.

At least 16 people died, including 10 students. Many were shot on main roads near Parliament.

Today, those issues remain unresolved: An investigation of 77-year-old Suharto appears to have stalled and the military has been granted 38 appointed seats, half its previous nmber, in the 500-member Parliament. General elections will be held June 7.

The student movement splintered and faded this year, especially after prominent opposition leaders who prefer a gradual approach to democratization urged campus activists to return to their studies.

On Wednesday, the demands of some students on the street seemed out of touch with Indonesia's political mood. "Revolution now!" they shouted.

By CHRISTOPHER TORCHI