I have learned from the news media about the student movement that has broken out in Indonesia, and that army units have already fired on students. I am very shocked by this news. This Indonesian student movement is similar to the 1989 Chinese student movement in a few ways. But I am extremely unwilling to see the Indonesian students pay a price in blood like the Chinese students. I strongly condemn the Indonesian government's use of force to stifle student demands for democracy, and I call on the international community to compel the Indonesian government to renounce violence and enter into a dialogue with the student movement. I hope that the Indonesian government can learn from China's "June fourth" incident. They should not follow the same road to ruin as the Chinese government.
Wang Dan
May 15, 1998
Translated from the original Chinese by Tom Kellogg
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