By Lachlan Malloch
SYDNEY — "The mass movement for full democratic reform in Indonesia over the next 12 will grow", Max Lane, national coordinator of Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET), told a forum here on May 29. Forty people attended the discussion, "Democracy and revolution: can the people take power?", presented by Resistance and the Democratic Socialist Party.
Establishment media coverage of the Indonesian election campaign and its colourful parades has been prominent, but has included little explanation of where the "opposition" parties stand on key questions of democratic change in Indonesia. Almost no coverage has been given to the movement for far-reaching political and economic change.
Erin Killion, a Resistance and ASIET activist, distinguished between two parts of the anti-dictatorship forces: radical forces such as the People's Democratic Party (PRD) on the one hand and conservative forces such as Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle and Amien Rais's National Mandate Party on the other.
Killion traced the roots of each party, showing that the latter parties grew out of forces loyal to Suharto's New Order regime, while the radical democratic current was organised in the early 1990s by student and worker activists.
Lane pointed out that the PRD is campaigning for an end to the political role of the military, while Megawati and Rais are not challenging the military's role. Their support for the armed forces' formidable role in Indonesian society springs from the nature of their political project, Lane said.
He explained: "Since the aim of figures such as Megawati and Rais is to stabilise the economy in a capitalist Indonesia, they cannot tolerate a strengthened labour movement demanding better wages and no privatisation while the IMF is dictating the opposite.
"Unrest will increase under a future government led by such pro-capitalist politicians. Containing this unrest will require increased repression, hence their reluctance to campaign against the military."
While some political freedom has been created by the movement that overthrew Suharto, a major obstacle for the radical forces is the fact that advocating Marxism, socialism or communism is still against the law in Indonesia. As well, said Lane, practical left-wing politics is still banned, as was made clear when the Jakarta military command attacked 2000 protesting workers on May 19. Three workers were kidnapped and are still missing.
Lane said that campaigns to complete the democratic reform process will feature heavily in Indonesian politics after the elections. The main force leading these struggles will be the PRD, whose membership has jumped from 1000 to 10,000 in the last year.
"Their campaigns may lay the groundwork for a revolution by workers, peasants and the millions of poor people in Indonesia's cities. Exactly when real democracy and a better life comes to Indonesia's people will depend upon how well the struggle for this revolution can be waged", Lane observed.