The Struggle for Democracy in Indonesia: Introducing the People's Democratic Party
Published by Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor in cooperation with the People's Democratic Party (PRD)
46pp (large format), $6
Review by Mel Bull
"I see in my mind's eye, all of us, with thousands and thousands of workers, marching defiantly to demand our rights. I never imagined then that it would be the last time we would have the chance to link arms, raise our clenched fists and challenge the arrogance of power together." — From a letter written by an Indonesian worker to Budiman Sujatmiko, chairperson of the PRD, who is now a political prisoner of the Indonesian regime.
The Struggle for Democracy in Indonesia is an inspiring booklet which reviews the history of Suharto's rise to power, analyses the New Order regime and documents the development of popular democratic organisations.
The first part of the booklet provides an overview of recent events in Indonesia, specifically the recent crackdown on democratic forces. Included are leaflets and statements by the PRD leadership and members, and a time-line of events.
The booklet shows that the July 27 military occupation of the Indonesian Democratic Party headquarters, where a free speech forum was being held, was a severe miscalculation. The regime has failed to achieve its aim of muzzling opposition. Instead, the struggle for democratisation and change has broadened.
Neither has the regime been successful in its attempt to scapegoat the PRD for the riots that followed, or in preventing it from carrying out other "illegal activity" — that is, campaigning for democratic change in accordance with the 1945 constitution.
The second part of the booklet contains excerpts from the program and other documents of the PRD which were adopted its founding congress in April, 1996, plus the July 22 manifesto which publicly announced the formation of the party. The documents identify the most pressing need in Indonesian society as guaranteeing the basic rights of the people. Its aims include repealing the five political laws which control political parties, changing the process of elections and the composition of parliament, holding referendums and building mass organisations, ending the military's so-called dual function (its intervention in civil, political and social life) and ending the Indonesian occupation of East Timor.
The method proposed to win such change is "to create a united front based on a common platform ... ultimately designed to achieve popular sovereignty, [with] programs, tactics, strategies and slogans that are based in the masses, [and that] is a body to mobilise the masses". Of the various social sectors in Indonesian society, the PRD sees "workers as the most significant potential force that will be harnessed and organised into the democratic struggle", having grown greatly in numbers, militancy and strategic social strength, but also finds strong points in the fight for democracy amongst other sectors. Mass organisations affiliated to the PRD include the PPBI (Indonesian Centre for Labour Struggles); SMID (Students in Solidarity with Democracy in Indonesia); the STN (National Peasants Union); the cultural organisation JAKER (People's Art Network); the Jakarta and Sol People's Unions which organise the urban poor; and East Timor solidarity organisations.
The PRD places building these mass organisations in the framework of building an alternative political party. This party has ideological, political and organisational tasks taking it "beyond just standing at the head of a spontaneous people's movement [to being] the bearer of progressive consciousness". This means neither adapting to the existing consciousness of the masses nor underestimating their political potential.
The centre-piece of the program of the PRD is the call for popular sovereignty under a "people's coalition government". This would implement policies to regain control of natural resources, break the power of large-scale capital and ensure "freedom for agitation and propaganda to encourage the organisation of people's political organs in all sectors" as the underpinning of the implementation of the popular democratic program.
Part three of the book, an article on the formation of the PRD, outlines the radicalisation and the development of a sharper class analysis among the Indonesian opposition to the Suharto regime in the 1980s and 1990s. During this period the democratic forces became aware of the need to consolidate their opposition by building an umbrella organisation — the People's Democratic Union — which was formed in 1994 also with the initials PRD and subsequently became the People's Democratic Party.
The PRD is now forced to operate underground due to the military crackdown, and some of its leaders have been jailed. The struggle for democracy and social justice in Indonesia, however, is still very much alive. This booklet is a must for solidarity and political activists as a practical and interesting guide to the PRD.