Last week, the national coordinator of Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET) and Asia Pacific Institute member, MAX LANE, returned from a week-long visit to Indonesia. Green Left Weekly's JILL HICKSON spoke to him about his observations.
Question: What was the purpose of the visit?
We in ASIET and the Asia Pacific Institute felt that it was important we have the best possible understanding of the new situation that has been won in Indonesia. This meant going to Jakarta and speaking to those most deeply involved in organising at the grassroots.
I spent a week in intensive discussions with the leadership of the underground People's Democratic Party (PRD); the Indonesian Centre for Labour Struggle (PPBI), including its president Dita Sari in Tangerang Women's Prison; Student Solidarity for Democracy in Indonesia (SMID); activists from the student movement and a range of other political activists. We must, of course, make sure that leaders of the movement in Indonesia are able to come down to Australia as well.
Question: How much change has occurred in Indonesia?
The single biggest change is the growth of the mass movement and the much higher level of politicisation, even radicalisation. This is the result of years of hard work to win mass sympathy for protests that take the form of mass actions.
The huge mobilisations at the national parliament on May 19 to 21, the million-strong mobilisation in Yogyakarta on May 20, the student takeover of radio stations in Surabaya and Semarang, and the takeover of TV stations in Padang are some of the indications of this radicalisation.
While I was in Jakarta, there were usually several demonstrations every day. Many of these were spontaneous and aimed at ousting particular government or corporate officials. Others were aimed at Suharto and others still at economic conditions. All of this ferment is reflected in the mainstream press, although some taboos still seem to operate, such as reporting on the statements of the East Timorese leadership or the activities of the PRD.
Question: Is the Habibie government a genuine reform government?
The Habibie government, which is just the old military-backed Suharto regime with a new face, is running scared. It is trying to be seen as the initiator of reform because it is scared it will lose control of the reform process and the whole New Order structure will unravel.
So far, the regime has made mostly token gestures, although in some cases these gestures concede — at least for the time being — to the democratic gains that the mass movement has already won.
Around 20 political prisoners have now been released but these do not include any of the leaders of organisations which can genuinely threaten the regime. Xanana Gusmao remains imprisoned, as do leaders of the PRD such as Budiman Sujatmiko and Dita Sari.
Organisations that have been able to operate openly for some time, although suffering significant harassment, such the Indonesian Prosperity Trade Union (SBSI) led by Muchtar Pakpahan and the Alliance for Independent Journalists, have now been formally recognised and their imprisoned activists released. But the militant organisations such as Renetil, other Timorese resistance organisations and the PPBI remained banned.
The regime is also trying to push back new elections until the end of 1999 in the hope, probably in vain, that the radicalisation process will have dwindled by then.
Question: What is the atmosphere like in Indonesia now?
It is electric and tense. The success of the mass mobilisations in forcing an unwilling Suharto to resign and an unwilling New Order establishment to allow his resignation has emboldened many people.
There is a very strong and sustained attack on Suharto and his family and this attack is steadily expanding to include Habibie. The press, especially the tabloids, print attacks on Suharto on their front pages every day. Such publications are extremely popular. Business magazines which publish comprehensive reports on the Suharto family's wealth sell out in one day. Newsboys start selling photocopies of them.
Almost every day there are declarations of new political parties, reflecting the long suppressed tradition in Indonesia of political party activity. I counted at least 15 new parties declared while I was in Jakarta and others have been declared since I left.
Question: You said the situation is also tense?
Everyone who is struggling for genuine democratic change can feel the presence of the military hovering in the background. While the army has been afraid to use force to restrict activities in recent times, it has threatened to take action to restrict reform several times.
On June 3, a statement by the armed forces chief, General Wiranto, was broadcast on television. Wiranto strongly defended Suharto's record and pleaded for people to recognise the overall positive record of Suharto.
He also threatened the movement, ending his statement by saying that anybody who stepped outside the limits of officially sanctioned reform would "have to face the armed forces".
I expect that another confrontation will take place between the mass movement and the New Order establishment in coming months.
In a discussion with the great revolutionary novelist Pramoedya Ananta Toer, students were warned by Pramoedya that if they stopped their protest actions and reduced the offensive against the regime, "they would all be massacred". He emphasised that the Indonesian military was still murderous and that only mass pressure could fend them off.
Question: Some people seem to view Wiranto as a "dove" and a friend of the students?
Yes, this is quite shocking. Even high profile human rights groups, such as Asia Watch in the United States, have put this line. It has been fed by the rumour mills in Indonesia and among overseas human rights groups linked to the scores of small Indonesian opposition groups who play elite politics in Indonesia.
This rumour mill has set up General Wiranto as the "dove" who is battling the fascistic General Probatio, Suharto's son-in-law. They have bought Suharto's soft cop/hard cop sell and turned it into the idea that there is a real difference between the two military chiefs. At one stage there were even reports on the Internet that Wiranto was going to install Amien Rais as president, and go out and join the student demonstrations!
Many people seem to have forgotten that it was Wiranto who oversaw the policy of preventing students from protesting outside university campuses all through this year. The scores of students who were hospitalised; the use of police and soldiers to barricade students inside the campuses; the unconstitutional use of force to prevent students from peacefully demonstrating on city streets, that was all under Wiranto's direction. Suharto didn't appoint Wiranto as armed forces chief for no reason.
Question: What does the government fear?
In Wiranto's televised speech — in which he looked very grim — he said the mushrooming reform actions were "tending to demand change in everything and anything". The military is afraid that the protest movement will keep expanding and eventually demand the dismantling of the whole system.
Many of the protests have been very militant. In Surabaya, a permanent command post has been set up in the Surabaya parliament. In Solo, the provincial parliament was occupied. Campaigns to demand the dismissal of government officials have been very strong. The pro-Megawati Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) activists have re-occupied the PDI headquarters which were taken off them in 1996 and there have been demands from the PDI mass base that the minister for home affairs, General Syarwan Hamid, be dismissed. Syarwan Hamid organised the split in the PDI, the deposing of Megawati and the attack on the PDI headquarters in July '96. He told a protest delegation that he was only following orders at the time.
In a recent statement, Syarwan Hamid said that occupations of government buildings and attacks on government officials are outside the bounds of "reformation", and that the security apparatus may need to take action.
Question: How strong is the radicalisation?
There is enormous potential for a rapid acceleration of the radicalisation process. At the level of democratic reform, it is felt very strongly. Everybody is racing to make at least token shows of being a democrat. Even the old yellow union, the Federation of All Indonesia Workers Unions, has started making protest noises. Some of its leaders have even declared they will set up a workers' political party. Everybody now feels that if you don't join the democratisation process you will be left behind.
I spoke to groups of students on the University of Indonesia campus and it is very clear there that the radicalisation process has started. Many students are questioning the system as a whole, not accepting that the country's problems are simply the result of one-family rule. They are trying to think out the role of international capital, of capitalism as a whole.
There are, of course, still many students with moderate or conservative views, including on issues like East Timor. It is possible that a polarisation will take place with some conservative students supporting Habibie and the military. But the majority will, I think, be won over to a radical course.
At the grassroots, among workers and urban poor, the anger against the whole New Order establishment is very strong and this will increase as the economic situation worsens.
I spoke to many PRD organisers who work among workers, urban poor and students and they all reported a large increase in enthusiasm for political discussion and political action. This is reflected concretely in the wave of strikes over the last two weeks. These have included the five-day strike and protests by 50,000 workers from the Maspion corporation in Surabaya, to Garuda Airlines workers in Jakarta. There have also been smaller protest actions by workers in the form of delegations to the University of Indonesia campus to seek solidarity from the students.
Question: What is the state of the organised opposition?
The most impressive forces remain those organised underground through the PRD. The PRD is still banned, despite all Habibie's noises about reform, and PRD leaders remain in gaol, but the underground seems very strong.
I met a very large number of PRD leaders and Jakarta-based field organisers. The organisation seems to have grown remarkably over the last period. It is quite clear that it remains the only force with a solid mass base, which is steadily growing.
The PRD activists are still working under very difficult conditions because of the ban. While Budiman Sujatmiko, Dita Sari and other PRD leaders remain in jail, the PRD must assume that any of its members will be liable to arrest.
At the same time, they are already testing out the regime's ability to suppress the PRD if it surfaces. A PRD activist spoke at a public seminar on multi-partyism while I was in Jakarta. Almost all the media questions were directed to the PRD representative, rather than the other parties, but virtually nothing appeared in the press. It is still taboo.
Many of the demands that the PRD pioneered have now been adopted by the broader movement. These include that all the repressive political laws be repealed and that the assets of Suharto and all officials be investigated and nationalised. These have become the key demands of what is now referred to as the "total reformation" movement. Many student groups, not to mention pro-reformation worker and urban poor groups, have moved into political action as a result of the influence of the PRD.
Of course, now that Sri Bunting Pamungkas (chairperson of the Indonesian United Democratic Party) and Muchtar Pakpahan have been released, they will have more opportunity to campaign to expand their organisations. So far, however, neither have grown very greatly. Both are fairly loose organisations and do not have a record of mass mobilisation or mass organising.
Pakpahan has recently threatened the regime with mass protests if Habibie does not resign, so it will be interesting to see what Pakpahan does. Any campaign by Pakpahan to force the resignation of Habibie would be a very positive move. I am sure other forces would join in. One positive sign has been the recent protest delegation led by Sri Bunting to the ministry for justice which demanded the release of all the remaining political prisoners.
There are also some small single-city groups of students and ex-students, such as Pijar and Aldera, which continue to carry out some actions.
After a period of quiet during the May upheavals, Megawatt's people have also become more active. I saw a protest of 2000 or more which was organised by the Tangerang workers area branch of the Megawati PDI at the national parliament. They were demanding genuine multi-party elections and a proper investigation into the attack on the PDI offices in 1996.
Question: Are there any new forces for democracy emerging?
The most impressive area of new politicisation and organisation is among university students. There are certainly many new student groups and coalitions. Some are based on one campus, others are cross-campus activist groups in one city and there are cross-campus coalitions with a national spread. There are groups that have developed around the student media.
Most of these students are very new to politics and are in the process of working out their ideological orientation. Almost all of the most active students support the call for an end to the Habibie regime and the general call for a "total reformation".