JAKARTA — Indonesian police used tear gas and water cannons to attempt to subdue a large demonstration outside the parliament of the Jakarta special province on September 11.

Tens of thousands of protesters gathered to blockade the parliament building. They also set up check points at surrounding intersections to check vehicles heading towards the parliament.

The demonstrators, mainly students and urban poor, were demanding that the members of the Jakarta parliament not re-elect Lieutenant-General (retired) Sutiyoso as governor of Jakarta. Sutiyoso was the military commander in charge of Jakarta during the 1996 attack on the headquarters of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDP), when scores of people were killed and injured. Those who escaped death or injury were later tried and imprisoned for not surrendering the headquarters to the leadership selected by the Suharto dictatorship.

Furthermore, Sutiyoso has been charged with mismanagement of the disastrous floods in January, including building a villa contravening his own anti-flooding regulations.

Ignoring demands from her own supporters, President Megawati Sukarnoputri issued a virtual edict demanding that all MPs in her party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDIP), support Sutiyoso. The PDIP rank-and-file has slammed this decision.

A major group at the September 11 demonstration was the Communication Forum of the PDIP (Forkab), which brought together PDIP rank-and-filers. Forkab distributed protest leaflets plus the names, addresses and phone numbers of all PDIP MPs who were planning to vote for Sutiyoso. All but three MPs were following Megawati's decree.

Sutiyoso was elected by 47 out of 84 parliamentary members. Most of his support came from PDIP and Golkar. All pro-Sutiyoso PDIP and Golkar MPs had to use either helicopters or armoured vehicles to get to the parliament. Sutiyoso himself used a helicopter provided by the police.

Three defiant anti-Sutiyoso MPS, plus members of the National Mandate Party and the Justice Party all made a show of walking to the parliament through the thousands of demonstrators.

The Indonesian media coverage of Sutiyoso's election has been to compare the behaviour of the Megawati government and Sutiyoso to that of General Suharto's New Order regime. Megawati's insistence on backing Sutiyoso, seen as responsible for the murder of her own supporters, is reinforcing her growing reputation for indifference to any aspect of public opinion.

Adding to the growing anti-Megawati mood, has been her contemptuous attitude toward the plight of almost 100,000 Indonesian, mainly plantation and construction workers, stranded without resources on the tiny island of Nunukan off East Kalimantan, expelled by Malaysia for not having proper documents, even though many will be welcomed back by Kuala Lumpur as cheap labour as soon as their papers are fixed up.

More than 100 have now died due to disease and lack of facilities at Nunukan.

During this whole period, Megawati has not spoken a word, let alone ordered the mobilisation of government assistance to the stranded workers. Only as a result of protests by a wide range of groups, led primarily by the activists from Indonesian Migrant Workers Solidarity (SBMI), has any official assistance begun to be provided.

As the crisis worsened, Megawati went off on another international jaunt that appeared to have no purpose.

Meanwhile, she is also seen as going soft on Golkar over corruption issues. Golkar chairperson Akbar Tanjung was recently sentenced to a three-year jail term after being found guilty of stealing US$40 million in aid funds. In contrast to every other person convicted for serious crimes, Tanjung has been allowed to lodge an appeal from outside prison. He has been allowed to remain speaker of the parliament, and even represent Indonesia at an International Parliamentarians Union meeting in Vietnam.

Megawati's “regal” indifference to the increasing suffering among the masses, her contempt for public opinion and her alliance with Golkar are all cementing mass hostility towards her. The social and economic crisis continues to inflict pain on the mass of the population and spontaneous local, immediate-issue driven protests continue to spread. Hatred of the government and the political elite is increasing.

Up till now, however, no alternative pole of attraction has been able to find its way onto the national political stage. The left, still small and with restricted resources, has not found the opportunity yet to make a breakthrough at that level. And neither has the political elite produced any populist demagogue, such as former President Joseph Estrada in the Philippines.

However, many demagogic charlatans in the provinces have begun their agitation: in resource rich areas, for separation; in resource poor areas, for war against any breakaway resource-rich provinces. The latter demagogy is also being pushed by the Indonesian military.

[Max Lane is the national chairperson of Action in Solidarity with Asia and the Pacific (ASAP).]

From Green Left Weekly, September 18, 2002.
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