Demonstrations at US Embassy: Jakarta, Indonesia

When I spent my time in Yogyakarta I was always fascinated by the daily demonstrations by mostly disgruntled University students. They would clog the main road through the centre of town, Jl. Malioboro, and bring traffic to a virtual standstill.

The students would demonstrate about anything and everything. In fact the only time they didn't demonstrate was during exam times at the University!. Solidarity and democracy in full flow. The best demonstrators were those students from the Arts Department of the University of Gadjah Mada. These guys were very creative and dressed up for the occasion and even performed street plays along the length of Jl. Malioboro creating even more headaches for the police who tried to deal with frustrated motorists.

Demonstrations are a fact of life in Indonesia. Yesterday thousands of Indonesian Muslims have rallied in front of the heavily fortified United States embassy in Jakarta condemning Israeli military actions in the Gaza Strip. Members of Indonesia's Prosperous Justice Party carried banners with pictures of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, a Hamas leader killed by the Israelis in 2004, and posters saying "Save Palestine".

Hamas, whose charter calls for Israel,s destruction, now controls the Palestinian government. Many in Indonesia support the Palestinian cause or are opposed to U.S. policies in the Middle East and especially the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Heck, so do I!.