Solidarity Visit to Indonesia

Participants: Emma Leslie (Australian, CCA Youth Representative), Rev. Park Jong-Yul (Korea SCM, WSCF AP Representative), Joseph Callanta (Philippine SCM, CCA Youth Representative), Keirsten Larsen (Aotearoa SCM, WSCF AP Representative)

Purpose

o To express solidarity with the people of Indonesia, particularly the Christian youth and students who have been involved in the pro-democracy movement.

o To find out from the Indonesian youth and students what support they seek from the international community.

o To obtain first hand opinion and accurate information about the recent crises in Indonesia. To share information from international sources and to share common international perceptions, regarding the Indonesian struggle.

o To share the experience of the Philippine and Korean pro-democracy struggles, which have history in common with Indonesia.

Activities during the Visit

o Visit to the scene of rioting: burned and stoned buildings.

o Visit to University of Indonesia and met with two students hunger-striking on campus to demand for reforms. Participated in a rally organized for the release of political prisoners.

o Visit to Indonesian Legal Aid Centre (Yayasan LBH Indonesia)

o Participating in a meeting of SBSI (Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union) and celebration of recent release of Muchtar Pakpahan (political prisoner and chairperson of SBSI)

o Attending a debate on "Towards a multi-party democratic system" organized by Legal Aid Centre and Committee to Oversee Elections (KIPP). Following the debate, a demonstration was held outside the Legal Aid Centre by workers of Wal-Mart Supermarket, who had been made redundant after the riots, as the supermarket had been burnt down. The workers were paid only US$20, which is only a month of their wages, as redundancy compensation. The workers were calling for four months' redundancy compensation.

o Meeting with Communion of Churches of " Indonesia.

o Meeting with GMKI (Student Christian Movement of Indonesia) and PGI Youth (Communion of Churches of Indonesia Youth) at Universitas Kristen Indonesia (Christian University). Spoke with students who had been involved in the pro-democracy and pro-reform movement, and who had been among the 10,000 students who occupied the parliament for 6 days before the resignation of Suharto.

o Visit to a slum in Jakarta. One man we talked with had been employed by an American telecommunication company, laying fibre optic cables. His contract ran out at the end of six months. The company left Indonesia without paying him for any of the work he had done. Another woman told of how all eleven of her adult children had lost their jobs due to the economic crisis. The poverty was evident.

o Meeting with FKPI (Indonesian National Youth Forum): The Forum is a council of the Buddhist, Hindu, Christian Catholic, Muslim and National (secular) youth and student movements. They work together on common goals for reform, and are in many ways a realization of the Pancasila principle of Indonesian unity while managing to retain and value their diversity. The movements are not unaware of the difficulties they face among themselves beyond their common goals, but are clear about their purpose to work together.

o Prosperity (welfare) and Justice Forum: This is a Christian non-governmental organization, which advocates for laborers' and farmers' rights, educates workers about their rights and how to organize in the workplace for voluntary unionism. They strongly believed that knowledge and education must be provided to the workers themselves rather than having their problems of employment inequalities addressed by outside organizations such as NGOs. To realize its visions, the organization is open to all people from all classes. The organization is also involved in issues of land conversion (e.g. transforming agricultural land into commercial developments) and land tenure (the farmers' right or lack of rights to retain their lands).

Issues

• Political and electoral reform

Youth and students are calling for reform of the government system of Indonesia. At present, there are 1,000 members of parliament, 475 of whom are elected through general elections, and the Indonesian president appoints the remaining 525. Many of the appointed members are from the military. The president has the power to annul the right of any candidate for election, and can exclude any candidate of whom he does not approve. The general assembly of all 1,000 members of parliament elects the president.

The former president had approved only three political parties whose candidates may stand for the 475 elected parliamentary seats. The youth and students are extremely sceptical of this token democracy, especially historically all three partiest had always unanimously elected the same president, i.e. Suharto.

The new 'leader', Habibie, has not been elected president by the Indonesian general assembly but was appointed directly by Suharto when Suharto stepped aside. The youth and students do not consider Habibie to be a lawful or constitutional president.

There is currently no independent body authorized to oversee local or general elections. The election results counted by an independent committee (KIPP) connected with the Indonesian Legal Aid Centre differ greatly from the official government results: The Indonesian people face the problem of introducing a new parliamentary and electoral system into a context which has negligible experience of any other than the present system. There is a dilemma of whether to move quickly and call for new elections of a 'clean' government using the existing or slightly modified system, or whether to undergo a complete overhaul, introducing a system less open to abuse. The latter option was favored by the people we spoke to, however there was concern that the length of time taken to do such a thorough reform would allow the present regime to consolidate its position of power.

One of the main calls is for a truly multi-party system, allowing the diversity of Indonesia to be expressed politically. While in Indonesia, we attended debate on the forms of multi-party systems being considered.

• Legal and judicial reform

Many of the laws introduced over the past 32 years by the former president, Suharto, are unconstitutional. They are in conflict directly with principles enshrined in the Indonesian constitution since independence from the Dutch was gained in 1945. In fact, Suharto has used some of the laws introduced originally by the Dutch colonizers to suppress his own people.

We heard no discontent with the Constitution. Rather, there was a strong call from the youth and students to uphold the Pancasila: the five principles of the Indonesian ideology and way of living, which are codified in the Constitution.

The legal and judicial systems have been used as a tool by the Suharto regime to oppress the Indonesian people and have enforced poverty and silence. Since 1978, no student groups, including such organizations as the Student Christian Movement and the National Youth Movement, have been allowed to organize or publicize their activities on campus.

Indonesian prisoners can be, and are detained and killed without trial. The judiciary is corrupt, and the majority of people are unaware of their 'legal' rights, where they exist. One of the Christian NGOs we talked with had, as one of its specific goals, to educate people about their rights, particularly within the workplace.

There are many political prisoners, only a few of whom have been released following Suharto's resignation. Some of the members of the Indonesian Student Christian Movement (GMKI) have been harassed and interrogated by the police for their involvement in distributing pro-democracy information and organizing protest. Some of the women SCMers involved were sexually assaulted by the police when taken in for questioning.

• Economic reform

Wealth in Indonesia is very unevenly distributed and poverty has become even more extreme since the Asian economic crisis in 1997-1998. Unemployment is widespread in both skilled and unskilled sectors of the workforce.

Many of the big companies are owned and run by those in the parliament, their families and friends. 'President' Habibie's family alone owns

over 80 companies, and these companies have been given contracts by government departments run by Habibie himself.

Currently, farmers are required to sell their produce to a government agency at a very low price. The agency then sells it at a much higher price usually to a single buyer or a small number of buyers which are businesses owned by families of members of the corrupt political regime. Farmers have no right to set the price of their produce nor the right to decide to whom they would sell their produce.

The youth and students demand for economic reforms, which include the removal of monopolies by buyers to ensure a fair minimum price for the farmers' produce. They also demand for the development of agriculture, which is the main way of survival for the Indonesian people living outside the cities. To date, a huge proportion of state funds has been channeled into purchasing and development of aircraft and military equipments, such as the 39 warships bought from Germany, telecommunications, chemical and nuclear technology, while agricultural methods and technology remain largely undeveloped.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is seen in some quarters as a hero as it had succeeded in imposing some economic reforms on the Suharto regime while the Indonesian People had failed. However, there is widespread concern that money loaned to a corrupt government will not benefit the ordinary people. Yet the burden of repaying the debt will rest on the shoulders of future generations of the Indonesian peoples.

From the outsiders' perspective, some of the participants in the Solidarity Visit were concerned at the desire for IMF loans and Walmart employees' rally in Jakarta foreign investment, which may provide cash in the short term, but can further cripple the economy, leaving it even more dependent on international financial support and vulnerable to international influences. In further discussion with some groups, it was clarified that the greatest need now seems to be immediate humanitarian aid rather than loans. Groups also asked for international support for financial stability and the ordinary Indonesian People's right to control the economy of their country.

• Military and Police reform

At present, the armed forces (ABRI) include the army, air force, navy, military and 'civilian' police. Youth and students are calling for an end to the dual role of the police and the undemocratic involvement of the military in the political system. They want the armed forces to be the "protector of the people", not the "killer of the people", as described in a banner on a Jakarta street. Many of the students involved in the pro-reform demonstrations and occupation of parliament immediately prior to Suharto's resignation were beaten by the police during the protests. One SCMer we met still had a large bruise on her back.

The armed forces are more highly educated than the general population, as three year's training is provided by the military academy as part of the requirement for service. The armed forces therefore have greater access to political, economic and social power as well as the simple 'physical' power of intimidation, harassment and detention.

• Corruption, collusion and nepotism

Students and youth are calling for economic, political and social systems free of corruption, collusion and nepotism. The initials of these words in Indonesian language is 'KKN'. 'No KKN' has become one of the catch-cries of the Reform movement. Former President Suharto has stepped aside in a strategic act to avoided accountability to the General Assembly and Indonesian people for his corrupt dealings. People is pushing for Suharto to be brought to justice, in front of a 'clean' judicial system.

• Riots

It has been widely publicized in the international media that much destruction occurred as a result of rioting in May, following the killing of 6 student demonstrators at Trisakti University on 12 May 1998. The students wish to make it clear that they were not involved in the rioting. The riots and looting were mostly carried out by impoverished people in Jakarta and elsewhere in Indonesia.

The riots did not occur spontaneously following the deaths of the students, but some days later. It is suspected that the riots might have been engineered by the military as an excuse to introduce further repression, or engineered by another group of whom the military are afraid. While the desperate need of the rioters meant that the situation was easy to inflame, there is clear evidence that the military did not respond effectively to quell the discontent. The military's capacity to respond rapidly to people's uprisings has been established on other occasions. The strong military presence at the student demonstrations during the days prior to the rioting showed that they were able to take control if they had been directed to do so.

• Women

While in Indonesia, the absence of women in leadership positions, including within the reform movement, was noticeable. Women are very involved in the movement, and are in fact a majority among the 10,000 students who occupied the parliament buildings during 16-21 May. However, their voice is not easily heard. It is particularly dangerous for women to be involved in political activism, as they are open to sexual harassment and assault by the authorities, as well as physical assault. As mentioned earlier, women members of Indonesian SCM have been assaulted when taken in for questioning by the police.

It is estimated by Mitra Perempuan, a women's rights group, that over 100 women were raped or sexually abused in Jakarta alone during the riots, and often publicly. Most of these women were Chinese-Indonesian. The police have not registered any sexual abuse cases occurring during the riots.

• Religious and racial diversity

Indonesia is religiously and ethnically diverse. While there have been moves by some Muslim fundamentalist groups to establish a Muslim state, the students and youth emphasize that this is not supported by the majority of Muslims in Indonesia. They are committed to an Indonesian State, which upholds the rights of all faiths and ethnic groups/They do not wish to be engineered into fighting among themselves, and thereby distracted from the common goals of reform.

The Chinese-Indonesian community was targeted during the riots of mid-May, as the community is wealthier than other ethnic groups in Indonesia. The Chinese-Indonesian people are not permitted to hold government jobs or to join the armed forces, so they have traditionally been business-oriented. The students and youth again emphasized that they do not wish to have racist attitudes encouraged as a means of redirecting discontent from the corrupt government.

• Human Rights Abuses

Abuses of human rights are common, including detention without trial, disappearances, torture, and execution without trial. Political prisoners are numerous, only a few of whom have been released since Suharto stepped down in May. Indonesian students and youth are demanding an end to the abuse of human rights.

The particular situations of West Papua (Iryan Jaya) and East Timor were not addressed in depth during our visit. These two regions, currently governed by Indonesia, are fighting for self-determination. Many human rights abuses occur in these areas. Little information is openly available to the youth and students within Indonesia regarding the situations of East Timor and Iryan Jaya.

In summary, the youth and students are calling or the total reform of the economic, political and social systems of Indonesia.

Strategies for Regional and International Support

o To distribute update information about the Indonesian situation, and to lobby the Indonesian government, embassies and other authorities.

o To encourage our governments to lobby and pressure Indonesian government to support total reform, as the model advocated by the Indonesian people, rather than be duped by token government reforms.

o To encourage financial support by international movements to the Indonesian Student Christian Movement and Indonesian Communion of Churches Youth; to facilitate mobilization of the movements, the students and youth and the wider population.

o To encourage members of the international movements to visit Indonesia, especially at programs such as the National Congress of Indonesian SCM (GMKI) in October 1998.

o To utilize our movements' internal publications and programs to raise awareness of Indonesia's struggle. To raise awareness also at events such as the World Council of Churches General Assembly in December 1998.

o To organize and encourage information from international networks to be provided to Indonesian organizations, due to the difficulty of obtaining information internally.

o To extend the CWP (Conference of Churches of Asia and World Student Christian Federation Asia-Pacific Joint Programme) focus from 'Campus Ministry' to the wider issue of reform in the general social context.

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