BY KERRYN WILLIAMS
"We see the potential energy among urban poor youth, whose power has been shown many times in Indonesian history. They are brave, energetic and not afraid of new ideas and changes. We are trying to build their trust in the idea that together we can solve our problems and make our hopes come true", Ricky Tamba, general secretary of the Popular Youth Movement (GPK) in Indonesia told Green Left Weekly.
Last June a national youth congress attended by 47 delegates from 11 provinces, representing 20 urban poor organisations, met in Bandar Lampung and launched the new youth organisation.
The GPK is made up of urban poor youth including street singers, homeless and unemployed youth, sex workers, and street sellers. In its first four months, it has established branches in South Sumatra, Lampung, North Sulawesi, Central Sulawesi and South Sulawesi. In addition, there are committees preparing for branches in Jakarta, West Java, Central Java, East Java, and Yogyakarta, with activists in a number of other provinces eager to open further branches in the future.
Currently the GPK's main campaigns are around employment, education, housing and health care for the people, and demanding the trial of former president Suharto for his political, economic and human rights crimes.
Since its formation the GPK has participated in joint actions with Frarob (Anti-New Order Regime People's Front) demanding the trial of former Indonesian president Suharto; solidarity actions with the peasants' struggle in Sulawesi; campaigns supporting fisherpeople in Lampung; and activities to assist workers' campaigns in East Java. Last month the GPK mobilised members from three provinces to take part in a march on the Presidential Palace in Jakarta on Indonesian Youth Day.
GPK members have also organised actions with the Indonesian National Front for Workers Struggle (FNPBI), the National Student League for Democracy (LMND) and the National Peasant Union (STN).
Statistics released in September by Indonesian Labour Consultants (ILC) in Jakarta indicate the growing constituency for GPK membership. In 1996, Indonesia's urban poor numbered 7.2 million. By 1998 this had more than doubled to 17.6 million. In 1999 informal sector workers reached 64.4% of the total work force.
Living standards for the vast majority of Indonesians have dramatically declined since 1997. Per capita income went from US$1004 in 1996 to US$596 in 2000. On average the cost of basic goods increased 224.16% between 1995 and 2000.
The current economic policies of the government, imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are set to further entrench poverty for the masses. "The anti-people policies made by the IMF will make unemployment, disease, death, and starvation bigger and bigger every day", explained Tamba.
"The IMF has played the most dominant role in Indonesia along with the World Bank and CGI [the Consultative Group on Indonesia, a body of the main Western donor countries]. They use Indonesia just like other under-developed countries — for their capital investment. They exploit the workers and natural resources by their policies. Now they have signed an SAP [Structural Adjustment Program] with the Wahid government; and they push Wahid to implement their neo-liberal policies, such as the recapitalisation of some big banks, and ending subsidies for people's basic needs like fuel, electricity, education, and health care."
The GPK leadership does not believe the Wahid government is capable of solving the problems of Indonesia's youth. While supporting some of President Wahid's democractic reforms, Tamba asks, "How can the Wahid government solve the problems if they don't have any courage to sweep away the New Order remnants? How can they solve the problems if they don't have any programmatic plan? How can they solve the problems if they are just robots of the IMF and World Bank? How can they solve the problems if they don't have any trust in people, especially Indonesian youth, and just rely on elite old phony reformist politicians like Amien Rais, Akbar Tanjung, Megawati and more?"
"If the old politicians can't do it, they'd better resign and let us young people solve the problems. Now or never is the time for Wahid to prove his government can carry out reforms. We say fulfill our demands or we will take over ourselves!"
The GPK is trying to challenge the depoliticisation of young people in Indonesia. "The elite politicians say there is no need for young people to think about politics", said Tamba. "They say we should study and stay calm because all the state's problems will be handled by them. We should just think about getting a good education, having a 'nice paying' job, having a 'nice life'. The young people have been marginalised from all political decisions made by the state."
"There will be many attempts by the remnants of the New Order regime and phony reformists to use and manipulate youth. We want the urban poor youth to get organised well, have a democratic organisation, and develop more revolutionary theories, so we can struggle for full democracy in Indonesia and help the workers and peasants to get their rights back", Tamba explained.
The GPK has launched a bulletin called Api (Fire), and to date two editions have been produced. Several pamphlets are also planned, taking up issues of youth struggle, the need for a revolutionary organisation, and rejecting neo-liberalism. The GPK involves new members through organising within urban poor communities, holding discussions, actions, and giving speeches about revolutionary politics.
The GPK also has plans for establishing urban poor cooperative shops in the future. Tamba described how these will not only assist people in attaining what they need to survive, but will also "inject more consciousness of how the government doesn't care about their living standards, so we have to build a strong organisation and solidarity among the urban poor".
Tamba said that building urban poor cooperatives "is a tactic to build collectivism, and we hope we can get some funds to implement the plan".
Finding the means to fund its activities is just one of many challenges the GPK faces in consolidating its organisation. "There are many technical difficulties like the very big and separate Indonesian geography that we have to organise in, lack of revolutionary theories of how to organise urban poor, lack of human resources, lack of funds", Tamba explained.
"We don't even have a permanent office because we don't have any experience in fund raising, and we still depend on money from our parents, incidental small donations and some money we get from selling books and magazines."
Tamba emphasised that the GPK is keen to develop greater links with youth activists in Australia, to "help in giving an internationalist perspective to our members so we are not alone in the fight against neo-liberalism". He added: "Your struggle in Australia is our struggle too in Indonesia. If we globalise resistance, we will win!"