INDONESIA: PRESIDENT SHUARTO IS SWORN IN AS PRESIDENT OF INDONESIA FOR A SEVENTH FIVE-YEAR TERM - STUDENT PROTESTS FOLLOW

Record ID: 442385

  • Title: INDONESIA: PRESIDENT SHUARTO IS SWORN IN AS PRESIDENT OF INDONESIA FOR A SEVENTH FIVE-YEAR TERM - STUDENT PROTESTS FOLLOW
  • Date: 11th March 1998
  • Summary: JAKARTA, INDONESIA (MARCH 11, 1998) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV INDONESIAN PRESIDENT SUHARTO ENTERS PEOPLE'S CONSULTATIVE ASSEMBLY (MPR) 0.09 2. TOP SHOT OF MPR MEMBERS APPLAUDING AS SUHARTO ENTERS 0.18 3. SLV SUHARTO BOWS TO ASSEMBLY/ TOP SHOT OF MPR AS NATIONAL ANTHEM IS PLAYED/, ZOOMS INTO SUHARTO 0.41 4. SV LEGISLATORS 0.48 5. SV SUHARTO TAKES OATH, KORAN IS HELD OVER HIS HEAD 1.05 6. GV TOP SHOT OF ASSEMBLY 1.10 7. SV SUHARTO SAYING TODAY WE ARE GOING THROUGH EXTREMELY DIFFICULT TEST AND TRIALS. WE ARE BEING SUBJECTED TO VERY HARD ECONOMIC AND FINANCIAL TURMOIL. (BAHASA INDONESIA) 1.31 8. SV/GV APPLAUSE 1.39 9. SV STUDENT PROTEST OUTSIDE ENTRANCE TO UNIVERSITY CAMPUS / STUDENTS WITH PLACARD THAT READS, "YOU CANNOT LEAVE BEHIND HISTORY,YOU ALSO CANNOT LEAVE A REVOLUTION" (ENGLISH) 1.51 10. SV STUDENT DRESSED AS PRESIDENT SUHARTO 1.52 11. LAS POLICE HELICOPTER CIRCLES OVERHEAD 1.57 12. SCU STUDENTS GIVING FINGER SIGN TO HELICOPTER (3 SHOTS) 2.09 13. SV STONES BEING THROWN THROUGH LOCKED UNIVERSITY GATES AT LINE OF RIOT POLICE OUTSIDE 2.15 14. SLV LINE OF RIOT POLICE BACKING AWAY FROM GATES (4 SHOTS) 2.32 YOGYAKARTA, INDONESIA (MARCH 11, 1998) (RTV - ACCESS ALL) 15. GV TOP VIEW STUDENTS MARCHING THROUGH STREETS 2.40 16. SV POSTER OF FACELESS MAN THAT READS "THE RICHEST MAN IN INDONESIA" 2.47 17. SV LARGE BANNER THAT READS, "REFUSE SUHARTO, LOWER PRICES" (ENGLISH) (2 SHOTS) 2.58 18. SV EFFIGY OF SUHARTO IN CROWD, CROWD CLAPPING AT RALLY (3 SHOTS) 3.12 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 26th March 1998 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JAKARTA AND YOGYAKARTA, JAVA, INDONESIA
  • City:
  • Country: Indonesia
  • Reuters ID: LVAEUEHMO22SK3CNK8LVJV2A17S8
  • Story Text: President Suharto has been sworn in as president of Indonesia for a seventh five-year term, prompting thousands of students to take to the streets in protest.

    The inauguration of 76-year-old President Suharto for another term of office took place in Jakarta on Wednesday (March 11) before the mostly hand-picked People's Consultative Assembly (MPR).

    The former general appeared to have fully recovered from an illness that struck him down late last year.But his sombre appearance, with dark suit and tie and traditional black velvet Moslem cap, constrasted starkly with the buoyant mood of the 1,000-strong MPR.

    As Suharto took his oath of office, a Moslem preacher held the Islamic Koran over his head.

    Suharto, in his inaugural address, said the country was going through a very difficult period and called on its 200 million people to tighten their belts and work together to overcome the crisis.

    On the outskirts of the capital, about 600 students threw stones at police, who were backed by troops.

    The fighting began when police blocked the students' exit from the Tercinta campus of the Institute of Social and Political Science.

    A police helicopter circled overhead as the stone-throwing continued.Finally the police decided to avoid a confrontation and withdrew.The students remained on campus.

    More students in Yogyakarta burned an effigy of President Suharto after he was sworn in for a seventh term in office.

    Thousands of students carried the effigy -- two-and-a-half metres tall and bearing a picture of Suharto -- during a march down city streets.

    Police stood back, avoiding a confrontation, as the effigy of Suharto was burned during the demonstration, witnesses said.

    "Down with prices, Down with Suharto," the students chanted in protest at soaring inflation resulting from the country's worst economic crisis in decades.

    In recent weeks, thousands of students have held mostly peaceful protests on campuses in the major Java cities of Jakarta, Bandung, Semarang, Yogyakarta and Surabaya as well as a number of cities on other islands.

    The government banned public gatherings and demonstrations during the March 1-11 MPR meeting, and also for a week before and after the session.

    Thousands of students have ignored the ban, but the country's powerful armed forces (ABRI), of which the police are technically a part, appear to have been using a kid-gloves approach to prevent confrontation and bloodshed.


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