Yogyakarta – A discussion held at the University of Yogyakarta (UGM) Joglo Innovation and Creative Hub (GIK) in the Central Java city of Yogyakarta featuring several state officials, ended in chaos after it was besieged by hundreds of students on Monday evening June 16.
The discussion presented the Minister of Agrarian Affairs and Spatial Planning/National Land Agency (ATR/BPN), Nusron Wahid, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Sudaryono, and the head of the Agency for the Acceleration of Poverty Alleviation, Budiman Sudjatmiko. Minister of State Secretary Prasetyo Hadi, who had been invited to the event, did not attend the discussion that evening.
Initially, the Kopi Darat Indonesia (Kopdar) forum proceeded smoothly. Three students were given speaking sessions on stage. Sudjatmiko then took his turn. At the time, UGM Student Executive Council (BEM) Chairperson Tiyo Ardianto was speaking.
Shortly after this, dozens of students stormed onto the stage. Several unfurled banners including some that read "UGM Rejects Traitors to Reformasi" and "UGM Rejects Sycophants of the Regime".
The action, which quickly got out of control, saw mineral water glasses being thrown. Shortly after, the three officials were evacuated from the Joglo GIK. However, hundreds of students outside had already blocked the officials' cars.
"Budiman, where's Budiman!" the students shouted. "He said he wanted to discuss things!", shouted another student. "If Budiman and Sudaryono won't come out, we won't leave!", shouted another student.
Wahid and Sudaryono then came outside to meet with the students. Budiman was still nowhere to be seen.
Wahid and Sudaryono, under guard, then headed for the UGM south gate. But before they reached the exit, the students managed to force them to sit down and talk with them.
One of the students asked Wahid about the hundreds of thousands of hectares of land in Papua that had been converted for food security projects, displacing local residents. He demanded that Wahid be held accountable as Minister of ATR/BPN.
Wahid's response of the student to come to Papua to see the facts on the ground did not satisfy the students. A few minutes later, Wahid and Sudaryono rose from their seats and headed towards the UGM traffic circle.
The students tried to block them with water barriers. Pushing and shoving between students and security personnel was unavoidable. However, Wahid and Sudaryono's group managed to get through. Following this a chase ensued.
In the end Wahid and Sudaryono were successfully evacuated and left the scene in a police escort vehicle.
"Budiman who was once imprisoned, took part in demonstrations, instead ran away. Budiman is a traitor, a coward", the students shouted. (kum/isn)
Notes
Budiman Sudjatmiko is the former chairperson of the leftist People's Democratic Party (PRD), who along with several other PRD activists was arrested and imprisoned in the final years of the Suharto dictatorship in 1998. In December 2004, he joined the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) and was later elected to parliament for two periods in 2009-2014 and 2014-2019. Following a widely reported meeting with Prabowo Subianto in July 2023, he publicly expressed his support for Prabowo's presidential bid and stated that the former Special Forces general should not be held hostage by past human rights abuses. In response dozens of former PRD activists held a press conference in Jakarta and accused Sudjatmiko of betraying the reform movement and called for perpetrators of past rights abuses to be arrested and tried.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Mahasiswa Geruduk Panggung Diskusi Nusron-Budiman di UGM".]
