Trisakti Tragedy: The Cruel Portrait Of The Apparatus Killing Students Of The New Order Era

JAKARTA - The repressive government resistance has been carried out by Univeristas Trisakti students. They took action to the streets demanding Suharto and the New Order (Orba) resign. They no longer want the repressive regime to continue to make the people suffer.

This condition angered the security forces. They stepped on, beat, opened fire, and killed students. The violence claimed lives: Elang Mulia Lesmana, Hafidhin Royan, Hery Hartanto, and Hendriawan Sie.

The lives of the Indonesian people were increasingly difficult in the 1998 era. Economic recession for the people is suffering. Prices of goods and food are soaring. Many businesses went out of business. Layoffs also occur everywhere. Not to mention the conditions are exacerbated by non-existent jobs.

Opposition almost has no room to talk. Officials and representatives of the people are like ignoring the suffering of the people. Corrupt officials don't even know themselves. They continue to show diversity in public. The people's anger is burning.

The action took to the streets began to be inflamed here and there. The entire Trisakti campus did not want to be left behind. Students, lecturers, employees, and alumni of Trisakti University participated in demonstrations.

It is planned that five thousand people will hear an oration from General AH Nasution, who in fact became an opposition figure on the campus page on March 12, 1998. Action participants who attended since the morning of the month. They began to open the pulpit of the oration.

All agreed that Suharto and New Order's leadership would end soon. They can no longer be led by repressive and corrupt leaders. Suharto was even equated with a dictator like Adolf Hitler.

The leadership of the New Order is considered too long. The result was a lot for the suffering of the Indonesian people. The action of oration added to the spirit of Maneken who resembled Suharto's face was burned. They cheered. Even though later AH Nasution did not become an orientation.

Before I arrived at Trisakti this morning, the students had held a demonstration demanding Suharto's resignation and calling for political reforms. They want a new president, a new parliament, and a new election law, as well as speeches that outline these demands last for two hours.

When the speeches were over, they burned Suharto's statue. This is a bold act even though it hasn't happened before. However, Trisakti students had their own innovations: before the burning, Suharto's maneken face was added with a small black mustache. Suharto! Suharto Hitler! shouted at the students as the flames rose, "said British journalist Richard Lloyd Parry in the book Zaman Edan: Indonesia in the chaotic threshold (2008).

The spirit of the entire academic community Trisakti is increasing. They are not satisfied with the action on the campus yard alone. They decided to hold an action towards the MPR/DPR Senayan building in the afternoon. However, the security forces only provided space up to the front of the West Jakarta Mayor's Office.

Trisakti students couldn't do anything. Like it or not, they held a large pulpit there. This condition is because Trisakti students' actions are closely guarded. Richard Lloyd, who was at the location, witnessed the presence of security forces from various units.

There were members of the Kopassus to Brimob who were equipped with rifles and shields. Three armored officers were also present at the location. The action that was carried out went smoothly. Oration for the sake of oration in the pulpit free there was no disturbance. The action was closed peacefully in the late afternoon.

Trisakti's group of students also walked back to campus. However, the confrontation between the authorities and students was inevitable. Security forces began to mess up the situation. They attacked students.

They hit, kicked, and shot. This condition made the atmosphere worse. Many students were injured who were then taken to the Sumber Waras Hospital. It was later discovered that four Trisakti students died because of the atrocities of the security forces.

They include Elang Mulia Lesmana (The Faculty of Civil Engineering and Architectural Department Planning), Hafidhin Royan (The Faculty of Civil Engineering and Civil Engineering Planning), Hery Hartanto (Fulty of Industrial Technology), and Hendriawan Sie (Fulty of Economics).

Their departure was due to the cruelty of the authorities which became an early marker of the fall of the Suharto regime and the New Order. The narrative made the four students who became victims considered martyred by the reform struggle.

Four students died on the Trisakti campus. A young man was killed in Yogya, two ABRIs were killed, and nearly 500 people were charred in the burning shop building, hundreds of businessmen lost their shops, thousands of people sold out their source of livelihood.

"If Mr. Harto wanted to go down, it didn't have to happen. However, that's the problem. What demands millions, but everything is formless politics," said Goenawan Mohamad in his writing in D&R magazine entitled Why It Rises: A Participant's Note (1998).