The events of the last two weeks have demonstrated the determination of the Indonesian people to achieve "reformasi total" — a total democratisation of Indonesian society.
The massive demonstrations, of more than a million people on some days, were led and organised by students, including student members of the People's Democratic Party (PRD).
The students became the targets of vicious military repression. The first student killed in the recent demonstrations was a high school student activist, Lukman Firdaus, who was shot in the head at point-blank range with a rubber bullet. Despite the repression, the students have vowed to continue their struggle.
Following is an interview with the editor of the PRD's fortnightly magazine, Liberation, MUHAMMAD MA'RUF. JAMES BALOWSKI conducted the interview for Resistance.
Question: We have heard reports that there is a growing thirst for Marxist ideas among campus students in Indonesia. What is the level of political consciousness of students, and how are you organising on campuses?
That is true. For 32 years, under the Suharto regime, people were not allowed to learn about Marxism. The government has always said that Marxism is bad, vile, atheist and so on, so many students are anxious to find out what was actually taught by Marx.
This is even more so now that capitalism is experiencing a worldwide crisis, and in Indonesia the crisis is getting worse day by day.
Following the May uprising which overthrew Suharto, more and more students have begun to develop a high level of political consciousness. Even on the city buses there are people selling political books and photocopied material — usually attacking Suharto.
There are also many serious activists who are not just campaigning on campus, but have begun to organise and live with workers, the urban poor and so on.
The PRD organises students through demonstrations, by holding discussion groups and by distributing Liberation. Of those activists who become involved, we try to convince those who are really serious, invite them to become involved with action committees which we have formed.
We then try to encourage the more serious and committed activists to become PRD members. Those that do join are encouraged to attend additional political education classes.
Question: High school students have played a significant role in anti-racism campaigns in Australia. What role have they played in the Indonesian democracy movement?
We also face problems of racial discrimination. The military and ultra-right groups frequently use racial issues to deflect the people's anger away from the regime and turn it against the ethnic Chinese.
But there are more and more democracy groups in Indonesia now which are sympathetic towards the Chinese. The PRD has also sought to make links with the ethnic Chinese, to work together against racism.
At the moment, there are many high school students involved in the democracy movement. In a number of cities, students have formed action committees.
One of their main demands has been for the abolition of the Inter-campus Students Organisation (OSIS), a type of student senate which is used by the regime to control and coopt students.
In Yogyakarta for example, a student action group occupied the offices of the Department of Education and Culture for a whole day, demanding OSIS be abolished. Student action committees in Yogyakarta, Surabaya (East Java), Lampung and Jakarta have also formed student councils — independent, representative student institutions similar to the worker, peasant and university student councils.
Question: The Habibie regime plans to hold elections next year. What approach will you take and why?
Everyone knows that the elections are going to be a farce which will have no benefit for the majority. We reject Habibie's elections because he is nothing more than Suharto's puppet.
We would like the elections to be organised democratically by a provisional government. Students also want this. This was one of the main demands of the mass demonstrations outside parliament.
Question: What is your assessment of the balance of forces within the democracy movement?
Many new organisations have formed recently — political parties and action committees — hundreds or thousands in total. Many of them have strange or even funny names. But in general they can be categorised into two groups: moderate and radical.
The moderate groups don't agree with significant changes. They always say that "reform" must be carried out "constitutionally", through a special session of the puppet People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), and they don't agree that Habibie should be overthrown by mass actions.
The radical groups, on the other hand, desire reformasi total, changes to the whole system. We reject holding a special session of the MPR, demand that Habibie resign now and call for the armed forces to abandon their social and political role in Indonesian society and return to the barracks.
When Habibie became president, the moderate groups said we should wait for the outcome of the elections being organised by Habibie. After students across the country mobilised in large numbers to reject the special MPR session, the moderates then joined in the rejection.
On the issue of the military, it is the same. Previously, the moderate groups only wanted the role of the military to be reduced. But when student demonstrations rejecting any kind of social-political role for the military continued to grow, the moderate groups began calling for an end to the dual function of the military.
So, although the radical groups are smaller, because we don't have a lot of funds and are not accepted by the regime, politically we are leading the movement.
Question: Has the support for self-determination for East Timor increased since the upsurge in the democracy movement?
The support for East Timor has increased dramatically; groups which had not previously supported self-determination now support it. What is more important is the changing attitude of the Indonesian people themselves, more and more of whom are supporting the struggle for a free East Timor.
The Indonesian people are beginning to find out what has actually been happening in East Timor, and that those struggling for democracy in Indonesia must also support the struggle of the people of East Timor.
Democracy activists in Indonesia and East Timor both face the same enemy. For the same reason, we also call on the Indonesian people to support the struggle for self-determination in Aceh and West Papua.