People suffer from IMF 'medicine'
By Edwin Gozal
Foreign minister Alexander Downer has made it clear that Australian government approaches to the IMF and World Bank have been designed to ensure that the situation in Indonesia remains "as stable as possible". In fact, Australia's backing for the Suharto dictatorship and for IMF/World Bank austerity is creating a social disaster in Indonesia.
Suharto's drastic cuts in government subsidies for fuel and electricity were timed to coincide with a meeting in Washington of the governing board of the IMF and the expected announcement that it was releasing US$1 billion of its US$43 billion rescue package for Indonesia.
IMF director Michel Camdessus said the petrol price rise was part of the IMF's agreement with Indonesia. He described IMF policies as medicine that creates more pain at first, but which would lead to a more balanced economy.
The pressure in the streets is mounting as students seeking political reforms are joined by workers and taxi drivers and bus drivers upset at fuel price rises. The unrest is spreading from Medan in North Sumatra to towns and cities across Java. The demands of the students and their supporters now involve the resignation of Suharto and the convening of an extraordinary session of the People's Consultative Assembly.
The May 8 editorial of the Sydney Morning Herald said that Indonesia's immediate fate lies in the hands of Suharto and the military rather than in the prospects of democratic reform. This reflects the policy of the Australian government and other imperialist countries, which hope that Suharto and military can contain the mass discontent.
The future of the Indonesian people is not in the hands of Suharto and the military, or on the table of Alexander Downer and Madeleine Albright. The Indonesian people will decide their own future.
What has happened in the past week is a good start to building a strong mass movement. Workers and residents are lending support to the students.
We need to organise a mass strike of all workers who are concerned with the future of Indonesia. It's time to set up an Independent People's Council, as proposed by the People's Democratic Party (PRD), as the genuine representative of the people. This council should become a transitional government including all the forces playing a role in opposing the dictatorship. The IMF should not interfere at all in the Indonesian economy.
Now is the time for worldwide support for the struggle of the Indonesian people against the dictatorship. Let's go into the streets and protest against the Indonesian military's brutal treatment of demonstrators. Let's put demands on governments to stop supporting the dictator Suharto.
Imperialist governments like the United States and Australian will support Suharto till the end. People in these countries should demand a stop to aid to Suharto and the cutting of all military ties with the Indonesian regime.
[Edwin Gozal is the Asia Pacific representative of the PRD.]