Done with Disconnected Demonstrators

Havoc might be a strong word, but it is suitable to describe the latest protests against the fuel price hike. In the name of the "poor people", protesters brought hell to earth: burning tires, blocking roads, vandalizing properties, and ganging up on police officers. The protest itself is started by students; therefore, they are blamed for the violence. Yet, authorities also suspected that there were intruders and provocateurs who incited the riots. In this case, no one can really be fully blamed and let's not randomly point our fingers.

What I'd like to point out is how many of those protesters are really in the game? They do look so numerous on the media, and from numbers comes strength. The government can't really ignore the thousands of people protesting them. On the other hand, I'm not so sure that 100% of those guys and girls are into the thing.

Exhibit A: the violence. If all of them do care about the people, why did they do those uneducated things? Burning tires and blocking roads are not going to help the poor, never ever. Instead, how much fuel was wasted in the action? Burning stuff requires fuel, if I'm not mistaken; and so does trapping those cars in the blockade. The people are already suffering from all these hardships, there is no reason to complicate things.

Exhibit B: an interview on TV. One of the TV station was interviewing a protester, who turned out to be kinda disconnected from the issue. Examine this loosely translated part of an interview:

Reporter: "Why did protesters go on such a rampage?"

Protester: "If only SBY didn't raise fuel price, we won't be demonstrating."

Reporter: similar question

Protester: "We are in contact with the poor everyday, and they're suffering. SBY shouldn't have raised fuel price."

What kind of protester is that!? Say hello to Mr. Non Sequitur. What he said was true, yet as an argument, it's completely irrelevant to issue discussed. He didn't really answer the question. Back to the demonstrators, everyone can have his/her own opinion about the hike, which is tolerable; but such violence will never be tolerated.

We are done with disconnected demonstrators. We need the right people with the right attitudes who have what it takes to fight for their cause. Methods of brute force should be left in the past because it's time to get smart now. Taking it to the street is not the only option. This is the age of communication, remember? Online campaigning is a new channel to be discovered and this is a good time to start. Newspapers are still one of the best way to reach lots of people. There are other stuffs too like petition and protests through arts. And if in the end it really comes down to street demonstrations, they must take care not to fall into such disgusting violence.

Students have been one of the key players in this nation's history, even before its independence. Violence will not only cause physical damages, but also tarnish the noble image of students in the eye of the people. They must take great caution to prevent this from happening.