Indonesia: Suharto prepares for siege
By James Balowski
In the midst of nationwide anti-Suharto demonstrations by students rioting over increasing prices and the arrest of scores of pro-democracy activists, the March 10 evening news report on the government-controlled TVRI could have come straight out of George Orwell's 1984.
Panning across a standing ovation by members of the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), which "re-elected" Suharto as president for a seventh five-year term, the report said that the reappointment "reflects the hopes of all Indonesian people".
Regional reaction was less than enthusiastic. A report in the South China Morning Post on March 11 began by saying, "Asian governments reluctantly congratulated Mr Suharto after his reappointment yesterday". It quoted Philippine President Fidel Ramos as saying, "I congratulate him", and refusing to comment further.
The Thai government called on Suharto to get to work on managing the economic crisis, and the South Korean foreign ministry said it hoped Indonesia could resolve its grave problems. The Japanese government made no statement. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta would boost their efforts to solve the problems.
Financial markets also reacted badly, the rupiah losing 20% of its value as it became clear Suharto would be reappointed.
Suharto's "re-election" and the selection of research and technology minister B.J. Habibie as vice-president were never in doubt. Of the 1000 members who make up the MPR — the highest legislative body in the country — only 425 were "elected". The remainder, including four of his children and a number of close business cronies, were hand-picked by Suharto.
On March 9, the MPR also granted Suharto unspecified new powers. "The People's Consultative Assembly has given the president the special duty and privilege to take steps deemed necessary to rescue and maintain the nation's unity and avoid social unrest and other subversive acts", the decree said.
Even those who supported the decree seemed unable to explain it. Reporting on a press meeting with four Golkar (the state party) representatives on March 6, the Jakarta daily Kompas described them as having to "resort to textbooks and hurried huddles before responding to questions from a gallery of mostly foreign journalists".
Questioned about the decree, one of the representatives said, "It's a special power, but nobody knows what kind of power this is". The statement met with roars of laughter.
In response to increasing anti-regime sentiment, Suharto first asked parliament (DPR) to "consider" reinvigorating his emergency powers last August 9. At that meeting, Suharto spoke for two hours straight on his role in "saving" the nation at key moments since 1945.
Demonstrations
Thousands of students across the country greeted Suharto's reappointment with noisy demonstrations.
According a March 10 report by Agence France Presse, some 200 students demonstrated at the National Development University in Jakarta. At the Christian University in eastern Jakarta, 100 students marched though the campus carrying a chair draped with a red cloth inscribed with the slogan, "The result of manipulation, protest is forbidden". More than 1000 students rallied in front of the library at the state Teachers University.
In Surabaya, East Java, some 1000 students rallied at the state Airlangga University, demonstrating over economic and political conditions. Rallies also took place at the August 17 University.
The AFX-ASIA news agency reported that around 400 students from the Surabaya Institute of Technology clashed with security forces when they tried to march to another university. Witnesses said students were beaten with clubs, at least one having to be hospitalised.
Other reports said that 5000 students clashed with police when they tried to take their demonstration onto the streets. Seven students and a police officer were injured.
More than 1000 students at the Islamic University of Bandung and the University of Pasundan in West Java rallied to protest against Suharto's reappointment and call for reforms. A rally was also held at the Bandung Institute of Technology.
In the capital of West Sumatra, Padang, more than 1000 Bung Hatta University students demonstrated, demanding reforms and opposing Suharto. In a statement read to the rally, they delivered a no-confidence motion against the MPR, saying it is "irresponsive to the people's aspirations". "Is this a republic or a kingdom?", read one of the posters.
Protests also took place in Medan, North Sumatra, at the Sumatra Utara University, IKIP Medan Catholic University and at THKBP Nomensen University.
Hundreds of students held a demonstration at two universities in Malang, East Java.
In Suharto's home town of Yogyakarta, Central Java, Associated Press reported that around 10,000 students took to streets around the campus of Gadjah Mada University, chanting, "Bring down prices, bring down Suharto! We reject Suharto. We need the government to reform politics and economics."
The South China Morning Post reported that police were still holding six of the demonstrators. There were also unconfirmed reports of arrests after police broke up a protest against rising prices outside a supermarket in central Jakarta.
Arrests were also made at a meeting in north Jakarta called the People's General Assembly, in opposition to the official MPR. It was attended by around 150 people, including foreign diplomats. Nine people were arrested, including the coordinator of SIAGA (a group which supports outspoken Muslim leader Amien Rais and ousted Indonesian Democratic Party leader Megawati Sukarnoputri), a journalist from the Independent Journalists Association, a lawyer from the Legal Aid and Human Rights Association and human rights activists.
The nine will be charged with holding a public event without permission and for engaging in "unacceptable political acts", which carries a maximum sentence of five years' imprisonment.
The following day, protests continued on most universities. The March 12 Jakarta Post reported that around 20,000 students from at least 10 universities in Yogyakarta gathered on the grounds of Gadjah Mada University.
Also present were a number of well-known opposition figures including Amien Rais, head of the Islamic mass organisation Muhammadiyah. When Rais told the crowd, "If they fail to [resolve the crisis] in six months, then [Suharto's] mandate should be returned to the MPR. It will later hold an extraordinary session to elect a new national leader", it was greeted with thunderous applause.
Crackdown
Despite a declaration by the military that it will suppress any protests, anti-government demonstrations took place almost daily prior to the MPR session.
The military has responded by arresting scores of pro-democracy activists. On February 12, 18 members of the People's Democratic Alliance (ALDERA) were arrested in their offices in Bogor, West Java. The activists allege they were badly beaten by police.
On February 23, three women from a group calling themselves the "Voice of Concerned Mothers" were arrested when they held a protest in central Jakarta against rising milk prices.
At least two activists have disappeared. ALDERA secretary general Pius Lustrilanang disappeared on February 4, and Desmond Mahesa, of the Nusantara Legal Aid Institute, disappeared on February 3. More than 100 people were arrested on February 10 during a demonstration organised by the Red and White Banner group outside the Bank of Indonesia.
IMF
The demands of the demonstrating students have been contradictory. While calling for a reduction in prices, they have also called for "economic reforms". In the current political context, this can mean implementing the IMF "reforms", which will require the abolition of government subsidies on essential goods.
Anti-Suharto sentiment has been growing since Megawati Sukarnoputri was ousted as leader of the Indonesian Democratic Party in June 1996. A month later, massive riots rocked Jakarta as thousands took to the streets to protest a military attack on Megawati supporters at the party's headquarters in which at least 50 people were killed.
Despite a ban on street rallies in the final days of the general elections last May, thousands of United Development Party and Megawati supporters rallied together. Troops and riot police could do little but stand back and watch as demonstrators attacked police offices, banks and other symbols of wealth.
Mass discontent over rising prices has also been behind the violent attacks on Chinese shops in a number of smaller cities in Java, Sumatra and Sulawesi. There is considerable evidence that the regime has been fanning anti-Chinese sentiment in order to deflect blame for the economic and political crisis.