In this story:

• Ad expresses sorrow for deaths
• Tension over questioning of oppositioin
• Speaker: Reforms represent will of people

JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) -- Thousands of troops guarded Indonesia's Parliament Wednesday as its speaker promised it would enact political reforms opposed by students in deadly clashes with the military last week.

He warned that any delay to the reform process could "trigger new problems" in the sprawling Southeast Asian nation, now beset by political and economic turmoil.

In a speech that opened a new session of the legislature, Speaker Harmoko said parliamentary elections in May or early June 1999 would be "based on honesty and justice, and would be direct, open to all, free and secret."

Sixteen people, including eight students, were killed last week. Security forces fired plastic bullets at protesters. Other people, including some police, died when rioting broke out in parts of Jakarta. Hundreds were injured.

City authorities said 123 buildings and 97 cars were damaged or set afire, The Jakarta Post newspaper reported.

Military commander Gen. Wiranto took out advertisements in several national newspapers expressing his "condolences" for last week's deaths.

"With deepest sincerity, we express our condolences for the deaths of students, members of the public and security apparatus during the special session of the People's Consultative Assembly," the advertisement said.

The opposition and students have demanded that Wiranto resign as armed forces chief and defense minister in the wake of the shootings.

"We hope that their souls are accepted at God's side and for all the families that they left behind, may God give them patience and strengthen their souls to face this hardest of situations.

"We say prayers for all the injured victims who are still in the hospital and hope that they get well soon so they can go back to work and do their usual activities," the advertisement said.

It was the worst violence since riots killed 1,200 people in May, forcing then autocratic President Suharto to quit after 32 years in power.

"For those who died outside the Parliament we deliver our condolences and hope that the deaths will prove to be meaningful in the long term," Harmoko said.

Police have questioned more than a dozen opposition figures, including two retired generals, in a sedition inquiry.

Suharto's successor and one-time protege President B.J. Habibie has alleged that the student protests had been orchestrated by conspirators wanting to topple his 6-month-old government.

The Jakarta Post quoted police as saying those questioned were suspected of subversion, which carries a maximum penalty of lifetime imprisonment.

Despite the heavy military presence around the Parliament, students said they would stage street protests later Wednesday.

Last week's bloodshed erupted after tens of thousands of students tried to march on the green-domed legislature where the 1,000-member People's Consultative Assembly approved a range of political reforms sponsored by Habibie.

These reforms will now be enacted by the 500-member Parliament, which makes up half of the assembly but is now sitting in its own right.

The process to make the reforms into law is expected to take several months, and Harmoko called on Indonesians to give the Parliament a chance to implement the changes in line with the constitution and not to be provoked by "irresponsible parties."

Although the reforms called for new elections and go some way in dismantling Suharto's authoritarian legacy, the students and other critics say that they do not represent true democratic reform.

They have demanded that the powerful military be banned from political activity and that Suharto be tried for corruption and human rights abuses.

Instead the assembly merely approved a decree to reduce the number of seats the military will have in Parliament from a current 75 to 55.

While it also named Suharto in a decree calling for a full corruption investigation, critics say the move is largely cosmetic.

Despite vehement student opposition, Harmoko said the reforms represent the true aspirations of Indonesia's 202 million people.

Once they were made law, Parliament would have a duty to ensure that Habibie's government would carry them out quickly, he said.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.