Indonesia - challenging Suharto

by Maggie Helwig

The well-deserved awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to East Timorese leaders Bishop Carlos Belo and Josi Ramos Horta has focused media attention on their small country's struggle against Indonesian occupation. At the same time, but attracting little international attention, the grassroots movement for democracy in Indonesia itself has shaken the confidence of the Suharto government and unleashed a wave of internal repression.

For many years, Suharto has been virtually unchallenged. To a large extent, this has been because of the overwhelming collective trauma sustained by the Indonesian people during the coup which brought him to power in 1965: several years of massacre on an appalling scale, which claimed perhaps half a million lives and scarred the psyches of all who lived through that time. But in the recent past, a generation of activists has emerged who were not even born in 1965, who are not restrained by their memories - who are, simply, not so afraid.

Suharto's regime maintains a certain pretence to democracy, and the next election is due to take place in 1997. Although the electoral system is such as to make any real opposition impossible, only three parties can field candidates, and more than half the seats in parliament are directly nominated by the military rather than subject to election.

The PDI, (one of the legal parties) made a bold symbolic gesture by choosing Megawati, daughter of the former leader Sukarno, as its head. Though megawati is no radical, refusing even to support self- determination for East Timor, she does advocate some of the same goals as those of the grassroots movements, and many democracy activists have made a tactical decision to support her candidacy. Some others constituted themselves as a group called KIPP - a committee to monitor the elections, try to ensure fair procedures, and document any violations that might occur.

But even symbolic opposition was too much for Suharto. A rival PDI was set up, with government funds and government involvement, and Megawati and her supporters were told they no longer represented the real PDI. Megawati supporters began a sit-in at party headquarters, holding daily rallies and public meetings. But on 27 July, the military and police moved in to evict them.

Just what happened that day is difficult to determine, and may never be really known. Almost certainly civilians were killed during the storming of party headquarters. Clearly riots erupted afterwards and lasted for several days. Others may have died as a consequence. It seems that the majority of rioters were not members of any political party or group, but simply crowds of people enraged by an accumulation of complaints, hardships and violations of their rights, who considered the storming of PDI headquarters the last straw.

A significant number of people (estimates range from 74 to 23) are still missing, and more than 100 were taken into custody. Some were released, while others are currently standing trial.

The government used the riots as an excuse to clamp down on nonviolent dissent. A series of raids was made on houses, offices and university campuses, leading to the arrest of a number of prominent activists, none of whom had been involved in the rioting. At least two of them - Mochtar Pakpahan, leader of the country's largest free trade union, and Budiman Sudjatmiko, secretary of a pro-democracy group called the People's Democratic Party - are facing charges of subversion, which can carry the death penalty.

Those activists who have not been arrested have faced other forms of intimidation. Some, including the aging Poncke Princen, have been repeatedly summoned for hours of interrogation. Others, like the Legal Aid Institute and Kalyanamitra (an independent feminist organisation), have had their offices searched and papers removed. Many student activists are still in hiding. Journalists have been summoned to receive cautions for giving too much prominence to protests.

By now, Indonesians are refusing to be bullied. Instead, the government's legitimacy is being increasingly undermined. The trials of the arrested rioters and activists, and Megawati's repeated court challenges to the "new PDI" and the government itself, are becoming focuses of protest and media attention.

In one of the most interesting developments, the Komnas Ham (a human rights monitoring body, which was founded, and remains entirely funded, by the government, and which was clearly created in order to cover up any reports of human rights abuses) has issued a report which firmly attributes the blame for the 27 July events and their follow-up to the police, the military and the government.

Sudjatmiko and other prisoners were recently able to smuggle a letter out of jail, explaining that they were refusing to answer any questions from government interrogators and saying: "quickly or slowly, the people will march forward to make their own history. We believe in each other and help each other. We in prison will keep up the fight the best we can." Clearly the momentum will continue to build up to the 1997 elections, with the trials of Pakpahan, Sudjatmiko and others likely flashpoints. Already many grassroots groups, including KIPP, have called for the elections to be postponed, and some are calling on potential voters to boycott the elections and publicly refuse to vote - a call which is a crime under Indonesian law.

Next year could prove crucial for the Indonesian peoples' long quest for human rights and democracy. This can only benefit East Timor, as the best hope for a negotiated solution is a change of government in Indonesia, and as almost all of the grassroots democracy activists are now openly backing self- determination for East Timor.

International solidarity

In Australia, members of the maritime union have been refusing to unload Indonesian cargo ships, in protest against the imprisonment of union activists in Indonesia. Indonesia solidarity groups have been raising funds for the legal and subsistence expenses of political prisoners and their families, holding pickets in several cities, and organising a speaking tour for an Indonesian dissident.

In Portugal, much grassroots energy is going into supporting the large number of Timorese refugees who have come to the country in the last few years, often as a result of occupying the embassies of other countries who refused to accept them as asylum-seekers. A number of educational, cultural and support programmes have been set up. Also, Portugal's near-complete boycott of dealings with Indonesia has been most recently exemplified by the Oporto football club, who refused an invitation from the Indonesian football federation to go to Jakarta at Christmas for a game against the national team.

In the United States, campaigning at the moment is focussed on the possible sale of US-made f-16 fighter jets to Indonesia, a sale which has been on-again, off-again for a while but appears once again to be on. Though the US has imposed some restrictions on arms sales to Indonesia, barring small arms and armoured personnel carriers, US arms remain important to the Indonesian military.

In Britain, there has been a major campaign against the sale of british-made Hawk airplanes to indonesia, given added publicity by the recent court victory of the Seeds of Hope ploughshares action.
In Sweden, arms sales are also a focus, particularly recently-granted export licenses for Bofors cannons and missiles systems. A women's ploughshares group has also been formed.
In the Philippines, where a meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation is to be held in November. Grassroots groups are organising a counter-forum focussing on human rights, and have invited Josi Ramos Horta. There is some likelihood that the Philippine government will attempt to prevent him from entering the country, and a campaign is forming around this. Philippines Workers' Solidarity has organised a picket outside the Indonesian embassy in Manila to protest against the crackdown in Indonesia.
In Hongkong, the Asian Students' Association has organised a demonstration outside the Indonesian consulate condemning the crackdown.