Abstract

Banning Is Banned

After a three-month break, Indonesian students are back on the campuses and in the streets, pressing for an end to Suharto-era abuses and a return to economic stability. In early September in Jakarta, Indonesia, the nation's capital, more than 1,000 students marched to Parliament to demand that President B.J. Habibie should step down and hand power over to a transitional authority. Eventually the students managed to force their way through the gates onto the groundscene of their triumph last year, when tens of thousands of students occupied Parliament and stayed until Suharto finally resigned, ending his thirty-two-year reign. The Jakarta students were not alone: In half a dozen cities, students were taking to the streets. In Surabaya, organizers reported that 15,000 students from twenty-seven campuses marched during a presidential visit. In Yogyakarta, 200,000 students and citizens. Indonesian students have traditionally been center stage during periods of cataclysmic change.