The ouster of President Abdurrahman Wahid and his replacement by Megawati Sukarnoputri has opened up a new, and likely volatile, era in Indonesia.
Reprinted here, in abridged form, is an interview with Budiman Sudjatmiko, the prominent and outspoken chairperson of the radical leftist PRD, the People's Democratic Party, about the likely shape of things to come in the country, from the party's daily newsletter, Our Tasks.
What are your comments on the new Megawati government?
This new government is the fruit of the conflict among the bourgeois elite. The essence of this conflict is the struggle for control of economic assets, but it manifests itself as a political conflict.
Megawati became president after she allied herself with the surviving forces of [former dictator Suharto's] New Order — Golkar [Suharto's political party], the armed forces and the police (TNI/Polri)— as well as the [right-wing Muslim] Central Axis.
We know that these forces have never struggled for total reformation. And in fact Golkar and the TNI/polri were the main machine used for repressing the people [under] the Suharto regime.
So there is a big chance that the democratic space may narrow?
Exactly. The current government is based on a criminal confederation of elements opposed to total reformation. The repressive methods of the New Order are being used again.
I have received reports from our comrades in East Java that just to hold normal prayer meetings now you must get permission from the regional military command. Religious teachers in Pasuruhan and Problinggo have been terrorised by the military.
So what are the prospects for finishing the process of total reformation?
We can't expect much from the ruling elite now. Megawati is not going to drag any of the Golkar people responsible for economic and political crimes before the courts. All the generals responsible for massacring the people feel safe. Megawati is in debt to these two forces — Golkar and the TNI.
Hamzah Haz [Sukarnoputri's new vice-president] has been using his civilian militia in Yogyakarta, the Kabah Youth Movement, to terrorise the democracy movement, often working with Golkar. To expect democracy from them is just daydreaming.
With this narrowing of democratic space, why is the United States and the European Union supporting the new government?
All the talk by these capitalist countries is just empty talk. All they are concerned about is political stability. They need stable safe countries where they can invest their capital. They will even support a military coup if it will benefit their capital.
Megawati has offered them this stability. In her inaugration speech she stressed that there needed to be stability to safeguard national integrity but made no mention of strengthening human rights or democracy. This means that Mega will use the army to defend national stability.
Apart from providing them with fertile fields, Megawati is also very accommodating to international capital. International capital, through the International Monetary Fund and its agents, will find it easy to implement its plans for Indonesia: the cuts in consumer price subsidies, the privatisation of state companies. Don't be surprised if fuel prices rise again.
So what about the prospects for human rights and democracy in areas of unrest, like Aceh and West Papua?
Of course, they are under threat too. Even before [Wahid] was ousted, the army was carrying out massive terror in Aceh with great loss of life.
Now with Megawati and her narrow nationalistic jargon, repressive actions by the military will increase. We know that Megawati, because of her narrow nationalism, did not agree with East Timor becoming independent. The Papuan and Acehnese people who are demanding independence will be suppressed by Megawati, with the army as her main instrument.
So what are the tasks that face the democratic movement now?
First, I must reaffirm that the old forces of the New Order are back in power. It is important that I say this so there is no confusion.
Second, the democratic forces must escalate their resistance. This is crucial if the New Order forces are to be destroyed. We must explain this to the people too. The people's resistance must be consolidated in organs of resistance, from the neighbourhood to the national level.
Why not set up anti-New Order poskos [security and organising posts] in strategic spots like markets, factories, bus terminals? We need these to consolidate any resistance.
In the future, these poskos can be the basis for alternative institutions to replace the rotting state institutions — alternative parliaments, government institutions.
The people's protests must be continued as well. Golkar offices, parliament buildings, army headquarters, government offices all must be targets. These are the places where the forces of the New Order still nest.
The people have to seize their sovereignty. There has to be an early election. And it has to be carried out by a provisional government, [whatever] we call it. There is no way we can trust either the executive or legislative that exists today, given how it is dominated by forces from the New Order.
A provisional government must be constituted by all the forces that have consistently fought to destroy the power of the New Order forces.
And so that any election is genuinely democratic, Golkar has to be put on trial first. Golkar has to be held responsible for all its crimes, institutional and individual.
The generals too have to be brought before the courts. The army has to be returned to the barracks and the dual [internal political and external defence] function of the TNI/Polri has to be dismantled in all its aspects.