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Media in Retreat 91

the session’s outcome, was left out of other television commentary. Instead, voice
after voice declared the special session’s results legitimate, leaving viewers with little
understanding of why protests continued.
31
Finally, in a broadcast carried by all stations, MPR Speaker Harmoko issued a
formal announcement on the session’s final results, including Decree No. 14, which
stipulated only a “gradual” reduction in military seats. By the session’s close, the
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MPR had passed a total of twelve decrees establishing the agenda for the transition,
including rules for the next election.
Two hours later, TVRI reported that three more students had died, concluding,
“The demonstration that caused the casualties . . . is still in progress.” Inside news-
33
rooms, staff were reacting to events on the streets whose implications were far larger
than the violence they were reporting. In May, the Trisakti shootings had triggered
protests, and the ensuing military-engineered violence that claimed over 1,200 lives
had destroyed what remained of Suharto’s legitimacy. Six months later, the country
again confronted news that the military had fired on university students, putting the
government’s legitimacy in question.
The next day, November 14, signs of public anger were apparent throughout Jakarta
as thousands marched in solidarity with the students and thousands more lined the
streets to watch. Newspapers displayed graphic images of the previous night’s vio-
lence capped by bold headlines dripping with blood. Throughout the day, news outlets
were barraged with phone calls, emails, and faxes from people expressing outrage
over the student deaths. One of the smaller private television stations, Indosiar, aired
statements by public figures Sri Bintang Pamungkas and Amien Rais (in marked con-
trast to his tone the previous day) calling on General Wiranto to resign.
34
Elsewhere on television, however, a different picture emerged. President Habibie
appeared on all stations to reinforce the now-dominant message: third parties were
manipulating the people. “There are movements and actions,” he explained, “being
carried out by . . . groups that plainly are working to violate the law and the consti-
tution by mobilizing the masses to force their will in an effort to undermine . . . the
special session’s results.” These results, he emphasized, “have . . . been decided dem-
ocratically and constitutionally.” TVRI followed with similar statements from other
officials. In contrast to print media reports on the dozens of groups demanding that
35
Wiranto and Habibie resign, the station claimed, based solely on statements from the
Indonesian Moslem Forum, there was widespread support for the session’s results.
36
The military, for its part, faced little scrutiny over its efforts to discredit the stu-
dents who had mobilized to remove them from parliament. There was remarkably
little criticism of its insertion of Pam Swakarsa into the crowds, a move arguably
destined to incite violence, or of its use of snipers and live bullets. As the body count
mounted, the recurring message instead was that security forces were “cornered” by
demonstrators, “forcing” them to shoot. This message went virtually unquestioned
despite, as Wimar Witoelar noted, evidence “that numerous options came and went
to stop the shooting or . . . prolong a bloodless standoff by using retreat points prede-
termined by riot control planning.”
37
None of the stations pursued this critique of military leaders. Instead, the domi-
nant image as the session ended was of Jakarta teetering on the brink of anarchy and
soldiers working patiently to establish calm. Significantly, in a final bid to end the
demonstrations, the military deployed the marines, a telegenic force in fuchsia berets,
who deftly befriended student protesters, producing visuals of amity and acceptance
used in coverage by all stations.