ACTION IN SOLIDARITY WITH INDONESIA AND EAST TIMOR (ASIET) P.O. BOX 458, BROADWAY NSW 2007, AUSTRALIA. Telephone: 61-(0)2-96901230 Fax: 61-(0)2-96901381 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Webpage: http://www.peg.apc.org/~asiet Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Precedence: bulk SUMMARY OF DEVELOPMENTS IN JAKARTA UNTIL FRIDAY NOVEMBER 13. Prepared by ASIET from information supplied by activists in Jakarta. At least seven dead and more than 300 seriously injured has been the cost of finishing the stage managed meeting of the Peoples Consultative Assembly (MPR) and pushing through decrees confirming the doctrine of the Dual Function of the Armed Forces. Among those killed are 5 university students and one high school student. Ida Nuraini, a woman leader of the PRD and member of its central leadership council, was shot in the head with a rubber-coated bullet and now is in a serious condition in a Jakarta hospital. There are unconfirmed reports of two activists from the Megawati Supporters Committee (KPM) also killed. Other PRD student activists were also unaccounted for as of late evening November 13. (see appeal in box) The deaths and injuries were caused by unrestrained shooting into the crowds of peaceful protesters by troops under the orders of Armed Forces Chief Wiranto. In the November issue of the establishment daily newspaper, Kompas, the shooting was described as "membabi buta", like that of a blind pig. This is confirmed by the reports from field activists from the PRD received by Green Left Weekly. The MPR finished its deliberations on Friday May 13 without altering the role of the military in the political system established by General Suharto in 1965. The 1,000 member body, comprising mostly people appointed or approved by Soeharto with a few new names appointed by Habibie, approved the doctrine of the Dual Function of the Armed Forces. 55 armed forces officers will be appointed to the Indonesian parliament. The military structure that runs right down into every village remained untouched. The timetable for elections and a new sitting for the MPR remains intact, guaranteeing Habibie the presidency until at least December, 1999. The elections will be organised and implemented by the Habibie-Wiranto regime itself. The appeal by the so-called moderate opposition leaders, Megawati Sukarnoputri, Amien Rais and Abdurahman Wahid for an independent election committee have been ignored also. But there is only one reason that this body of Soeharto-Habibie appointees was able to finish its stage-managed deliberations. That reason was 30,000 troops. 30,000 troops were mobilised into Jakarta to defend the MPR building from being occupied by more than 500,000 students and Jakarta urban poor and white collar workers. Without the thousands of troops ringing the parliament building, the tear gas, the water cannon, the tanks and the armoured personnel carriers, there is no doubt that the MPR would have been occupied and the Habibie-Wiranto regime would have fallen. The Habibie-Wiranto regime now rests only its support from the military and the military's willingness to use violence against the people. The regime stands condemned and isolated from its people. More confrontations will follow. Students united More than 150,000 students mobilised on November 12 and 13. These mobilisations drew in hundreds of thousands of workers, urban poor. Indonesian state radio, Radio Republic Indonesia, was reporting one million people mobilised on the streets on November 12. Similar sized mobilisations took place on November 13. The massive mobilisations were the result of a new level of unity achieved by the student movement in Jakarta in recent weeks. At the end of October a new alliance was formed, called AKRAB. AKRAB brought together all the major student activist, and organised worker, urban poor and political activist groups supporting the demands for a complete abolition of the military's role in politics and a rejection of the legitimacy of the MPR. AKRAB comprised FORKOT, FAMRED, FKSMJ, PRD, KOMRAD, KOBAR, Komite Pendukung Megawati (KPM) and FORBES. (See box for brief descriptions.) . It organised a demonstration of about 20,000 people in the first week of November. The success of this joint mobilisation further strengthened the cooperation between these groups so that an overall plan and proper coordination could be established for the protests during the MPR session. Assembly and rally points were established in the eastern. western, southern and northern sectors of Jakarta with marching routes into the city centre area of the parliamentary buildings. The students were determined to raise their major demands for an end to any role for the military in politics, the rejection of the MPR and the formation of a transitional government to hold free elections. There was also a new consensus that the students should call on the other sectors of the Jakarta population to join the mobilisations. This broke the divisions that had previously existed between those who supported a student alliance with the non-student masses and those opposed it. In the May mobilisations a majority of the FORKOT mobilising committee had voted against involving non-student masses. This time the student movement was unanimous. As a result as students moved along the main thoroughfares, the neighbourhood communities were encouraged to join the demonstrations. Over November 12 and 13, hundreds of thousands joined the students. In the eastern sector of the city, PRD, KOBAR, KOMRAD, KPM and FAMRED mobilised their forces and students from campuses in the eastern sector. On November 12, by the late afternoon, it was estimated that between 500,000 and 1 million people were moving along the streets. Large numbers also joined in the eastern mobilisations, under the coordination of FORKOT. Marshals were assigned along the route to protect shops owned by Indonesian Chinese as well as banks. One lane was kept open so some traffic could pass. The huge mobilisations over the two days took place with almost no damage to property, driving home the lesson that the urban poor masses would not resort to rioting if a clear political direction was given to the mobilisations. Residents along the mobilising routes also supplied drinks, food and money donations to the students. More masses were drawn to the student side each time students came under physical attack. From November 11, the army, apparently without the agreement of the police, mobilised several thousand paid thugs armed with sharpened bamboo sticks, to help them in defending the parliamentary area. In the first clashes between these thugs and students, the students fought back. On seeing some of these clashes, the Jakarta urban poor poured out of their neighbourhoods, sometimes armed with air rifles or their weapons, and defended the students against the thugs. In all cases, the gangs of thugs quickly retreated. The sight of thugs being thrown into battle against ordinary people soon draw criticism from a wide range of community figures. From the army's side, the so-called "professional soldier", General Wiranto, defended the deployment of these untrained, paid thugs with the words "why should anybody criticise people who just want to make things safe?". But the police quickly distanced themselves from these gangs and they were ordered back to their villages. As this occurred rumours spread that the paramilitary groups of the rightist Moslem group, FIRKAN, associated with the Star and Crescent Party, were to be mobilised against the students. According to PRD activists, this was stymied when the head of the paramilitary group of the more moderate Nahdatul Ulama (NU) organisation headed by moderate oppositionist Abdurahman Wahid, threatened to mobilise its forces in defence of the students. NU youth activists, influenced by Moslem liberation theology style thinking, were also active in the student mobilisations, especially in FAMRED. Neighbourhood communities also mobilised again on the evening of November 13 and were shot at indiscriminately. Many of the hundreds injured were among these mobilisations. On the evening of November 12, between 7.30pm and 10,00pm, a pitched battle took place between about 15,000 students and the masses of troops defending the MPR building. The 15,000 had broken through blockades on the eastern and western approaches to the MPR and had got to the gates of the MPR grounds. Charge and counter charge took place between the students and the soldiers. Scores of students were injured. Three waves of charge and counter charge also occurred in the area of the eastern approach. But the worst military violence took place on late afternoon and evening of November 13. This was when the mass indiscriminate firing of rubber coated bullets at crowds of students and urban poor took place in all sectors of the city. In many areas where the military attacked, both the masses and students fought back with rocks, other projectiles and molotov cocktails. Apart of the new consciousness among the students that was evident as soon as November 11 was that they would fight back if attacked or if force was used to try to stop their advance on the parliament building. Student protests also occurred in other cities. In Solo, students occupied the local parliament. In Jogjakarta, the state radio station was occupied. Demonstrations also occurred in north Sumatra. The new active solidarity between students and masses combined with an increased level of organisation and militancy now represents a real threat to the regime over the coming months. Attempts to stifle militancy The most moderate of the student groups is the FKMSJ. FKMSJ organised an operation on November 10 and 11 virtually kidnapping moderate opposition leaders Megawati Sukarnoputri and Amien Rais for a meeting with Abdurahman Wahid from the NU and so-called liberal ruling party figure, Sultan Hamengkubuwono. The FKMSJ students had hoped that these four would demand the hand over of government power to a presidium of these leaders. But instead the four issued a mealy mouthed statement essentially recognising the MPR session but calling on it to make sure that elections were carried out in May and a new government formed within three months after that. They called for the elections to be organised by an independent body. They called for the military's role in politics to be phased out over 6 years. Disappointed by this statement many FKMSJ students deserted the meeting and joined the street demonstrations, mobilising several thousand students, especially on November 13. On November 13, Amien Rais made an explicit appeal to the students to halt the mobilisations on the grounds that any indications of chaos would give the military an excuse to seize power. On November 13, Faisal Reza, the newly elected chairperson of the Central Leadership Council of the PRD, held a press conference to reject the statement issued by Megawati, Amien Rais, Abdurahman Wahid and Sultan Hamengkubuwono. "The statement gives us nothing and is out of step with the peoples demands," he said at the press conference in Jakarta on November 13. "Their statement legitimises the MPR which is made of Soeharto appointees. The MPR has not ended the military's role in politics. The decree of corruption only mentions Soeharto in passing. There was no firm decision to hold Soeharto to account for the crimes of massacre in East Timor, Aceh, Tanjung Priok, Lampung and other areas". Faisal Reza also confirmed that the PRD would continue on the path of extra-parliamentary mass action protest. ************* Box 1: who is who is the JAKARTA mass mobilisations Forum Kota - City Forum (FORKOT) a cross campus activist coalition that was established in May this year and was one of the two student coalitions that organised the occupation of the parliament in May. It includes supporters of Megawati but also activists, for example, from the more radical nationalist Murba Party. Its strongest base is on the Christian University of Indonesia (UKI). It has no base on the University of Indonesia. The PRD also has a presence in FORKOT. They are united in an anti-militarist framework. Many FORKOT students are hostile to Amien Rais. Along with the PRD, FORKOT has been aattacked by rightist groups as communist. Front Aksi Mahasiswa untuk Reformasi Damai - Student Action Front for Peaceful Reformation (FAMRED) FAMRED broke away from FORKOT and is based on a large number of smaller campuses. It has a radical anti-militaristy orientation. Young activists from the Nahdatul Ulama, influenced by liberation theology style moslem thinking, are influential in this group. Forum Kommunikasi Senat Mahasiswa Jakarta - Jakarta Student Senate Communication Forum (FKSMJ). This has been the most moderate student group, led by students who had been operating within the formal student "representative" institutions established by the regime a fgew years ago. They have been gradually radicalised and have now adopted the demand for an end to the military's role in politics. They also demand the formation of a governmental presidium. Komite Mahasiswa and Rakyat anti Dwifungsi ABRI - Student and Peoples Committee against the Dual Role of the Armed Forces (KOMRAD). KOMRAD is a militant student organisation with both an anti-militarist and anti-capitalist platform. It is under the political influence of the PRD but has non PRD members. Komite Buruh untuk Aksi Reformasi - Workers Committee for Reformation Action. KOBAR is a worker student formation formed after May by students radicalised at the University of Indonesia. It now has a strong worker base in factories in Tanegrang industrial area outside Jakarta, North Jakarta and the city of Bogor outside Jakarta. Since May it has organised several worker mobilisations that have been violently suppressed by the military. Komite Penduklung Megawati - Megawati Supporters Committee (KPM is mainly an urban poor based organisation of militant supporters of Megawati Sukarnoputri. Increasingly disenchanted with Megawati's moderate politics, they formed their own organisation in several cities. KPM includes people with a clear leftist orientation. Forum Bersama - Joint Forum (FORBES). This is the organisation with the smallest activist base. It is under the influence of the political groups PIJAR and ALDERA, some of whose members have already joined the so-called moderate parties, such as Amien Rais's National Mandate Party. In addition to these more organised forces, many single campus based groups mobilised for actions on November 12 and 13, including students from Trisakti University, where three students were shot dead in May. ******************** Special appeal: At least 7 dead - hundreds hospitalised ASIET has received an urgent appeal for money to buy medicines, vitamins and for logistical needs for the students under attack in Jakarta. Money can be sent to one of the following two accounts. 1. By international telegraphic transfer direct to Jakarta to the bank account of: J. Hariyanto, Bank Central Asia, Sabang Branch, Account No., 028 139 844 9. Make sure you include the words "Donation for students from ASIET appeal in Australia". 2. To the ASIET Peoples Power Fighting Fund, Commonwealth Bank Account No. 2026 1006 0743. Or send a cheque to ASIET, P.O. Box 458 Broadway 2007. Cheques shoudl be made out to: Peoples Power Fighting Fund. Free all kidnap victims of the military! No more military in politics! Bring to justice all New Order violators of human rights! Free Xanana Gusmao! Free Budiman Sujatmiko! Free Dita Sari! Free all political prisoners in Indonesia and East Timor! Unban the books of Pramoedya Ananta Toer!
