That's how Suharto was allowed to get away with it all, and enabled him to hand-pick his successor and move behind the scenes. It creates the illusion that things have changed in Indonesia, when in truth they haven't. The military is still THE power in Indonesia, and you can be sure no mass of unarmed students can prevail against the lavishly-funded Indonesian military.
Genuine reform is prevented ensures instability and misery.
On the first day of riots, six students were killed by the authorities, but after that, the press backed off and simply said they died.