Sixty miles south of Jakarta, near the old Dutch hill station of Bogor, lies a magnificent 2,000-acre cattle ranch owned by former President Suharto. Since Mr Suharto was forced from power in May, ownership of the estate has been disputed by local villagers. They claim they farmed the land for generations before it was seized from them in the 1970s. But when they tried to plant crops they were attacked by security forces and ranch officials threatened to rape any women who attempted to reclaim the land.
The struggle for the Bogor ranch has become a metaphor for the political situation in Indonesia today. Six months after Mr Suharto's replacement by President B.J. Habibie, whom for years he treated as a favourite son, little has changed. A corruption inquiry is under way into the fortune and vast land holdings accumulated by Mr Suharto during his 32-year rule, and a search of 74 Indonesian banks has located accounts worth £2 million of an estimated £25 billion. But the 76-year-old former president still controls his financial holdings and estates from his home in Jakarta.
The pace of investigation is too slow for the idealistic students who have shed blood in the struggle for democratic reforms in Indonesia. "We believe that if Suharto is not brought to account, there will be no real change," said Alex, one of thousands of students marching on Thursday towards the home where Mr Suharto still lives, in a plush area of central Jakarta (though that day he had left the capital for the first time since May to go fishing).
The belief is shared even by the head of the majority Golkar faction in the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), Mr Marzuki Darusman, who said the key to defusing tensions was for the government to demonstrate it was serious about investigating Mr Suharto's wealth. Stopped from approaching Mr Suharto's house by heavily armed soldiers, some carrying canes and conical wicker shields, the students unfurled banners saying, "Hang Suharto".
The students are in a hanging mood. Last Saturday when 50,000 marched on parliament they shouted, "Hang [General] Wiranto", the commander of the Indonesian army which is known by its initials, ABRI. The previous day ABRI soldiers had fired for two hours into rows of students and supporters calling for the arrest of Mr Suharto on corruption charges and the end of the army's role in politics. In the violence of "Black Friday" 16 died and 450 were injured.
The army commander has now forfeited public trust. Six months ago Gen Wiranto helped persuade Mr Suharto to step down and portrayed himself as a moderating influence in Indonesia. He conceded that ABRI had been used as a political tool and promised to change the role of the army as Indonesia moved towards democracy. Since then the military's popularity has plummeted. Earlier this month an official report found that elements of the army, seeking an excuse for a crackdown, had instigated the riots in May which left more than 1,000 people dead. Now popular sentiment has turned against Gen Wiranto for the brutal slaughter of students.
In an attempt to assuage public opinion the army chief took out a full-page advertisement this week in a Jakarta newspaper to apologise for the casualties. But its name has been blackened further. ABRI had assured people that only rubber bullets were used on Black Friday, but yesterday forensic officials said fragments of metal from rifle bullets were found in most casualties. It also emerged that the army had hired 125,000 "volunteers" from militant Muslim youth groups to intimidate the students, a tactic which failed when the citizens turned on them (several were beaten to death). Students are so infuriated that some now scream "PKI" at soldiers, the previously taboo initials of the Indonesian Communist Party, crushed by Mr Suharto in 1965-1966.
As the city was convulsed by violence last weekend, President Habibie was winding up a special session nearby of the MPR, a 1,000-member body packed with Suharto loyalists, which agreed to investigate the former president's wealth and reduce the 75 seats automatically granted to the military. It also called for democratic elections in May or June and presidential elections in December.
President Habibie argued that to move faster would destabilise the country. But events were slipping from his control. The atmosphere in Jakarta was so tense after the spasm of violence that Dr Habibie and Gen Wiranto travelled together to the APEC summit in neighbouring Malaysia to dispel fears of a military coup while the president was out of the country.
This also underlined Gen Wiranto's political clout. Diplomats in Kuala Lumpur said that the two privately appealed to world leaders to stick by them in the coming dangerous days, arguing that the Indonesian economy was at long last showing signs of recovery which could be jeopardised by political unrest.
The students continue to force the pace, however. Political analysts believe that if they succeed in having Mr Suharto arrested it will mean the end of President Habibie. The German-educated engineer will have outlived his usefulness as a protector of the old power structure. "To me, the power pyramid of Mr Suharto's regime is still intact," said opposition leader Mr Amien Rais.
Few now give Dr Habibie a chance of lasting far into the new year, claiming he has lost legitimacy. "I'd give him three months," a leading Jakarta economist told me over coffee yesterday morning. "Three weeks," countered her companion, a current affairs presenter on Indonesian television. Despite the Prague Spring-like atmosphere in Indonesia since May, prominent people still hesitate to lend their names publicly to such sentiments.
There is a vigorous free press in Jakarta which refers constantly to the "reviled former president Suharto" and progressive publications banned in the Suharto days, such as the journal Tempo have reappeared, but many opposition figures fear old controls might soon be reimposed. "Repressive Shadow Looming" said yesterday's Jakarta Post.
Since the violence last week President Habibie has invoked a law not used since before May to have 17 opposition figures questioned and banned from leaving the country because of a communique they signed, calling for the rejection of the results of the special assembly. Ten have been charged with trying to bring down the government.
"The communique incited, indirectly or directly, the mobilisation of protesters to force their own demands, which violates democratic principles," said a police spokesman, Brigadier-General Sianipar. "This is the first step," warned Mr Arief Budiman, Professor of Indonesian at Melbourne University, as he watched the students confront the army on Thursday.
Dr Habibie warned on Thursday that Indonesia could disintegrate if student protests and unrest upset the reform timetable, saying the stakes were very great. This fear is widely shared in a country which, with more than 300 ethnic and linguistic groups, huge social divisions and differing religions, is inherently unstable.
A key to the future is the moderate approach of the four key opposition figures: Muslim leaders Mr Abdurrahman Wahid and Amien Rais; Ms Megawati Sukarnoputri, daughter of the nation's founder, President Sukarno; and the Governor of Yogyakarta, Sultan Hamengkubuwono X. They do not support a takeover of power. They are in favour of phasing out the military over six years, fearing that too abrupt a change would provoke a coup. They are positioning themselves for next year's elections in which they could emerge victorious. Ms Megawati's party has 40 per cent support in polls, compared to 4 per cent for Dr Habibie.
Meanwhile, the students ponder what to do next. At the Atma Jaya Catholic University in Jakarta shrines have been erected to the dead students, including one featuring the flower-bedecked motorbike of a fallen undergraduate. "Actually most of the students are very conservative and basically want the old guard removed," a sociology graduate said. "But 25 per cent will not be satisfied until the system is changed. For them it's not reformasi that they shout any more, it's revolusi."