Budi Hartadi, Surabaya – The day before the presidential campaign was to start around 150 activists from the Indonesian National Student Movement (GMNI) and the National University Student Executive Council (BEM) demonstrated against military presidential candidates and burnt Golkar Party T-shirts and military clothing.

The action took place in front of the Grahadi Building on Jalan Gubernur Suryo in Surabaya, East Java, on Monday May 31.

“Keep the military out of civilian government. The generals who are in power are a serious threat to democracy in Indonesia. All civilian forces must close ranks in to hold beck the forces of the New Order [regime of former President Suharto] and the generals who want to return to power”, said one of the speakers.

The students called on the people of Surabaya to save civil society by rejecting presidential candidates from military circles.

During the action the students burnt yellow Golkar T-shirts and military clothing. They also brought a bier which was covered by a black cloth with the writing “The death of democracy” and brought banners and posters with the writing “The military are the enemies of the people”, “Confine the military to their barracks” and “Try the generals the violators of human rights”.

Following this, the student held a long-march to the Surabaya regional parliament on Jalan Yos Sudarso some one kilometer away. The long-march caused a traffic jam because they took up an entire lane of traffic and were being guarded by scores of security personnel. (aan)

[Translated by James Balowski.]