Indonesia's chief security minister Wiranto said yesterday that the student protests in the country were being hijacked by a group set on disrupting Parliament and the inauguration of President Joko Widodo's new term next month.
"The brutal demonstrations... were carried out by rioters fighting against officers, throwing rocks, shooting fireworks and flaming arrows at night and trying to cause casualties," Coordinating Minister of Political, Legal and Security Affairs Wiranto told a press conference.
Without identifying the group, he said it had "taken over the student demonstrations" which were no longer purely aimed at correcting government policies, but seeking to occupy Parliament and "halt the inauguration of the elected president and vice-president".
Mr Wiranto had led a meeting of top security officials to discuss the security situation in the country, following massive and violent rallies by university students in major cities this week rejecting the passage of a corruption law as well as other controversial Bills.
The officials, including Indonesian military commander Hadi Tjahjanto and national police chief Tito Karnavian, were summoned to the palace by Mr Joko over the unrest.
Mr Joko, who defeated retired army general Prabowo Subianto in the April presidential election with 55.5 per cent of the votes, is set to be inaugurated for his second and final term on Oct 20.
But he has been faced with mounting crises - from raging forest and land fires that have choked the region in haze and deadly violence in restive Papua province to the ongoing student protests.
In a Facebook post last night, Mr Joko said he will be meeting student representatives to listen to their views, hopefully today.
He said he "appreciated the aspirations expressed by students and various elements of society" through the rallies to "improve the weaknesses" in the country.
Mr Joko said he has ordered the national police chief to handle the protests in a persuasive, measurable and non-repressive manner. He also reminded protesters not to disturb public order and damage public facilities.
In what is believed to be the biggest mass protests since clashes in 1998 brought down the three-decade Suharto dictatorship, thousands of students in various cities have been taking to the streets since Monday demanding that the government and the House of Representatives withdraw controversial Bills which they say threaten democracy and civil liberties.
The protests were triggered after the House passed an amendment to the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) law on Sept 17 stripping the powerful anti-graft agency of key powers, including its authority to wiretap public officials suspected of wrongdoing.
Parliament had been poised to pass several Bills into law, including a proposed Criminal Code which, among contentious revisions, would criminalise pre-marital sex, restrict sales of contraceptives and outlaw insults to the president. Voting by Parliament on this Bill has since been delayed.
Mr Djayadi Hanan, executive director of the Indonesia Survey Institute, an independent polling group, said the public was enraged by the revised corruption law. He said Mr Joko should repeal it to end the protests.
"The public is disappointed and angry, including with the President as his promise was to strengthen KPK, to stamp out corruption and build a clean government, but KPK is dead with the revision to the corruption law," said Mr Djayadi.
