Support for 'Mega-Star-People Coalition' grows
By Melanie Sjoberg
JAKARTA — The final week of official campaigning for the May 29 Indonesian election has been marked by open defiance of government orders for an end to mass campaigning. More than 110 people have died in clashes with the military and other incidents during the frenetic street rallies. Police and the military have used tear gas and fired rubber bullets into the mass rallies.
Officials of the three legal political parties — President Suharto's ruling Golkar party, the Islamic United Development Party (PPP) and the government-approved faction of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) — have called for an end to the mass street campaigns and instead agreed that limited numbers of supporters attend "dialogues" indoors. Rank and file members have ignored their pleas.
At a PPP meeting in Solo on May 20, hundreds of PPP supporters were joined by throngs of people wearing the red and green colours of the "Mega-Star-People Coalition" — a coalition between deposed PDI leader Megawati Sukarnoputri and the PPP (the star is the PPP symbol) that many rank and file members and supporters of the two parties are demanding be formed.
The atmosphere was vibrant with unconstrained dancing to drums. A convoy of throbbing motorcycles spilled into the streets for four hours of campaigning. Hundreds more supporters packed the streets wearing the Mega-Star colours.
Tensions are rising, with more clashes between parties. The offices of the PPP, the Indonesian Islamic University and the Institute of Islamic Studies (IAIN) — all in Yogyakarta — were attacked by Golkar supporters. Forty students from IAIN were detained by the police. On May 20, hundreds of students from Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta protested against the attacks by holding a free-speech platform and marching around the university.
The dissatisfaction expressed in the streets is shaking the confidence of dictator Suharto and Golkar. Officials have repeatedly claimed that subversive elements or "bald-headed ghosts" are trying to disrupt the election. A plot to overthrow Suharto has even been mooted.
On May 21, the military's political affairs chief, General Syarwan Hamid, declared that the illegal People's Democratic Party (PRD) was behind attempts to disrupt the elections and use the unrest for their own purposes. As evidence he cited leaflets distributed during campaign rallies that contained some of the PRD's program and demands calling for a coalition between Megawati, the PPP and the masses: the Mega-Star-People Coalition.
The military chiefs and Suharto's Golkar seem unable to analyse what is obvious to even the most half-hearted observer: the rallies and unrest are a genuine reflection of the frustration of workers, students and the urban poor at the lack of real democracy and the misery of their daily lives.
Participants in the demonstrations are creating their own banners and placards, building giant puppets, decorating their vehicles or coming to cheer the cavalcades along. Many demonstrators told Green Left Weekly that they wanted real democracy. Workers are angry that they are forced to vote for Golkar or lose their jobs.
PRD activists are attempting to explain the political obstacles to change. Leaflets distributed across the country call for unity in the struggle to remove Suharto, an end to the army's involvement in the political system, abolition of repressive and undemocratic political laws, an investigation into the wealth of Suharto's family and friends, and improvements in the basic wage for workers.
Thousands of students in Jakarta have openly supported a boycott of the elections. Golkar functionary B.J. Habibie has stated that people cannot be made to vote. While ousted PDI leader Megawati has not made a direct call for an election boycott, she publicly announced on May 23 that she will not vote.