Indonesia: free all political prisoners!
By Max Lane
JAKARTA — The February to May student uprising and the wave of riots in Jakarta on May 14-15 which forced the resignation of President Suharto began a process that stands on the verge of unfolding into a full democratic revolution.
In the days since Suharto's resignation, the political establishment in Suharto's New Order has been working hard to ensure that the so-called reformation process stays under its control. The Habibie government and the Golkar-armed forces parliamentary leadership have struggled on many fronts to keep the initiative out of the hands of the democratic opposition, especially the student opposition.
Minister of Justice Mukladi began the process with sweeping statements about the release of political prisoners, but only seven have been released so far. All of those released are aligned with political groups which pose no immediate threat to the regime. Sri Bintang Pamungkas, chairperson of PUDI, and Mochtar Pakpahan were released first, followed by Nuku Sulaiman from Pijar, Andi Syahputra from the Alliance of Independent Journalists and three activists from a women's protest group.
As yet, there are no signs that the regime will release the prisoners from the People's Democratic Party (PRD), the East Timorese resistance or the Indonesian Communist Party, whose release was initially hinted at. However, the pressure for the release of all political prisoners is growing.
A statement signed by 22 political prisoners in Cipinang Prison and read by Syahputra and Sulaiman upon their release on May 28 said: "This amnesty is an international diplomatic effort by Habibie which doesn't touch on the question of human rights ... it doesn't take into account people like the former members of the Indonesian Communist Party and East Timorese like Xanana Gusmao."
Syahputra told reporters outside the prison that he and Sulaiman "are commodities which are being used by the government to secure funds from the international community. I will continue to fight until all the political prisoners are freed."
It is clear that the regime's tactic of selectively releasing political prisoners is aimed at weakening the newly radicalised students' resolve to maintain the pace and uncompromising demands of their campaign for democracy. It is also intended to strengthen the hand of those forces attempting to build a consensus about the need for a "loyal opposition" — an opposition which accepts that the Habibie regime, with Suharto still behind it, should lead the process of "reform".
Elections
There has been pressure from all opposition forces for early elections. To pre-empt a growing, united movement around this demand, the Habibie government and the Golkar-armed forced parliamentary leadership have agreed to an election schedule. During the rest of 1998, they say, new laws to regulate elections and political parties will be drafted, and elections will be held sometime in 1999, after all the requisite mechanisms have been perfected.
This timetable allows the regime time to reorganise its own political tools. Already, Golkar leaders say they are preparing to "reform" the party and re-establish it as the Indonesia Karya Party. Leaders of the government union, SPSI, have also declared that they will establish a workers' party.
The regime is struggling to hold the line on the question of how many and what kind of new political parties can be formed. Already, the minister of home affairs, General Syarwan Hamid (who was in charge of the campaign to suppress the PRD in 1996), has stated that there will have to be limits on the number of parties allowed. He also said that new political parties must adhere to the state ideology, Panca Sila, and may not carry out practical political activities, including organising mass support, until the new laws are in place.
Hamid argues that it is not necessary to repeal all five of the 1985 repressive political laws. It is enough, he said, to revise those laws that affect elections and the composition of parliament.
Habibie has hinted that a political party may have to win 10-15% of the vote to obtain any seats in the parliament. The regime has been silent on the question of repealing the ban on the PRD.
Loyal opposition
While the New Order leadership struggles to retain control of and limit the reform process, the elite opposition forces are striving to win acceptance of "reform" under the Habibie government.
Muslim leader Amien Rais has formed a new group made up of former cabinet minister Emil Salim, former home affairs minister General Rudini, and former civil rights lawyer and more lately Habibie company lawyer Adnan Buyung Nasution. This group has met regularly with Habibie.
Following the first meeting, during which Habibie agreed to call elections "as early as possible", Rais called on students and the people to stop holding "Reject Habibie" demonstrations. However, with each backslide on reform by Habibie, Rais has been forced to become critical again — always in moderated tones and with declining authority.
Other loyal opposition leaders, such as the former governor of Jakarta, Ali Sadikin, have also vacillated on the political prisoners issue. Sadikin has said that only those charged and imprisoned for insulting Suharto should be released.
In general, the loyal opposition has played a very limited role in pressing for the release of political prisoners or for ending the ban on specific political parties, such as the PRD.
A militant opposition
Despite these efforts at containment, however, the social pressure for another confrontation with the whole New Order political structure continues to build.
The "reform" process is occurring in a context of deepening economic and social crisis. Food prices continue to soar, medicines are increasingly difficult to obtain and lay-offs continue.
More riots occurred in Sumatra on May 27 and in Sulawesi on May 28. In Surabaya, around 3000 students occupied the grounds of a government building for three days from May 26 calling for an immediate extraordinary session of parliament.
Both the regime and the loyal opposition have agreed to the conditions of the IMF loans. If those loans are made, the collapse of some major Indonesian corporations may be staved off, but the Indonesian economy's decline into negative growth rates is unlikely to be prevented.
In this context, mass hatred of the New Order elites' wealth remains a focus for dissent. Demonstrations calling for Suharto to be put on trial and his wealth investigated have been taking place, and the PRD's demand that the Suharto crony companies be nationalised is now being taken up by other groups.
In a desperate move to ensure that these demands do not spread to him, Habibie has made his brother and son resign from their lucrative government and company posts.
Since May 20, demonstrations by the radical wing of the student movement have continued. On May 29, students occupied the parliament building in Solo and demonstrations have continued in Surabaya, Yogyakarta, Semarang in Java, and Lampung, Padang and Banda Aceh in Sumatra. There is increasing pressure coming from the student movement in the provinces for the movement in Jakarta to resume mass mobilisations against Habibie.
On May 29, around 400 students returned to the parliament building in Jakarta and, barred from entry by tanks and soldiers, chanted "Bring Habibie down right now". On the same day, students at the University of Indonesia announced new protests and at other campuses in Jakarta, banners were hung declaring, "Habibie is a protégé of Suharto, reform has not yet begun".
All of the demonstrations in provincial cities have called for an extraordinary session of the parliament to oust Habibie and install a provisional government with the sole task of organising free and fair elections.
The demand for a "total reformation" led by non-New Order forces is emerging as the key demand of the radical wing of the opposition movement. With each vacillation by the loyal oppositionists emboldening the regime to go slow on reform, the strengthening of the radical opposition wing will be key to consolidating the initial gains of the mass movement and preventing a take back (or even Suharto's re-emergence as the public leader of the regime).
Organisation
The sudden explosion of the student movement after the armed forces killed six students from Trisakti campus on May 12 has produced a wide range of political currents in the movement, especially in Jakarta.
Many students still see their role as a "moral force" and oppose the movement being associated with any political organisation. Numerous new groups have emerged which express this outlook in one way or another, even while they support the demand for a non-New Order provisional government.
Within what is a relatively chaotic movement at present, three main organisations now operate. These are Pijar, the People's Democratic Alliance (ALDERA) and the PRD. Although the organisational strength of the PRD is still hindered by its banned status (reinforced by the non-release of the PRD prisoners), it is the only organisation which continues to build itself on a national basis, and on a clear programmatic basis. The recruitment of activists to the PRD has accelerated during recent months.
As the economic and social crisis deepens, the struggle to provide organisational leadership for the next stages of the upheaval in Indonesia will deepen. At the moment, the only organisation with a consistent strategy of strengthening and organising grassroots resistance is the PRD.
However, the PRD's struggle for political leadership is now being conducted in a situation where the loyal opposition and those whose demands fall short of "total reformation" have much more space in the mass media to recruit to their ideas and are also gaining authority from the regime's "reform" manoeuvres.
In this situation, international support, especially material aid, for the PRD becomes an even higher priority. The gains made by the people during May will be quickly lost if the mass movement is demobilised.
The potential for sweeping away the whole New Order structure remains great, especially if the radical democratic forces in Indonesia can strengthen themselves during the coming months.
The transformation of the PRD from a small activist core able to mobilise tens of thousands of workers and students in "hot spots", into a mass party which can mobilise hundreds of thousands of people around Indonesia in militant struggle for full democracy is more clearly on the short-term agenda than it has ever been.
The PRD led the way in breaking the culture of passivity in Indonesian politics with its persistent work to popularise mass actions. The correctness of this strategy was confirmed by the May 20 mobilisations which forced Suharto to resign and the New Order rulers to pretend to support reform by making some concessions which, however small, weaken their system as a whole.
The next stage is to press home those victories, and the lessons about how they were won, to make new gains against the regime. During this stage, the support of progressive activists in Australia will be vital.
[Max Lane will be speaking about his visit to Indonesia at public meetings around the country in mid-June (see page 3).]