Helmi Fauzi, an activist in Indonesia's pro-democracy and environment movements, has been speaking to students and environmental activists in Australia about the political and economic situation in Indonesia. His tour was organised by AKSI (Indonesia Solidarity Action), Resistance and the Environmental Youth Alliance (EYA). Helmi has also just visited Europe, where he spoke to the UN Human Rights Commission on human rights abuses and torture in Indonesia.
Could you explain your involvement in the pro-democracy movement?
I first became involved in politics through the student movement. I joined an organisation called Front for People's Education. This organisation concentrated on building awareness through promoting discussion of social and economic problems at the grassroots level, often using popular theatre.
I also became involved in the Students Action Committee, which struggled for solidarity with the peasants.
For example, in 1988 in Badega village in West Java, a large private company wanted to expand their tea plantation. They forcibly took over the people's land in the surrounding area, with the assistance of the local military. The people refused to accept the takeover and continued to plant their usual market garden vegetables, while at the same time they destroyed the tea trees planted by the company.
Thirteen of the peasant activists were arrested by the military. They were accused of subversion and of continuing the kind of activities that used to be carried out by the mass peasant organisation of the Communist Party before 1965.
Many students began to realise the importance of building an alliance between the student movement and other sectors of society. Real social change could not take place without the genuine participation of those parts of society that were the real victims of development.
Were you involved in campaigns related to Badega?
I visited Badega village to discuss with the peasants their problems and what they could be do about them, and to help organise them. Some of them also visited campuses to create awareness amongst the students.
Prior to this, the students were only concerned with campus welfare issues. The Badega case was the beginning of a reorientation towards more grassroots issues.
Have there been many cases like Badega?
Since the beginning of the 1980s, there has been a big penetration of capital into the village economy. This usually was concentrated in the agribusiness sector, with the big companies taking over land, often by force. Many peasants have been forced to become plantation workers on desperately low wages. For example, a plantation worker usually only earns Rp800 per day or
A$0.60. This kind of development has increased tensions at the village level.
At the same time, the change in outlook amongst student activists resulted in many of them leaving the campuses, going to the countryside and becoming community organisers.
We have seen the mushrooming of committees made up of peasants and students. Since Badega, similar campaigns and protests by peasants have taken place in other places, such as Kedung Ombo, Majalengka, Koto Panjang, Pulau Panggung, Lombok and Bali amongst others.
Over the last few years, there have been at least 50,000 peasants involved in either local or national mobilisations.
What about the urban sector?
The building of alliances between students and workers came after the establishment of alliances with the peasants. Student activists began to realise the strategic position of the workers in the cities for any attempt to carry out structural change in the country.
The campaigns in solidarity with the peasants forced popular issues onto the political agenda. The rural campaigns had a kind of "reinforcement effect" which created a political atmosphere more open to popular issues that had been taboo. This opened up some space that allowed the workers also to begin organising open protests.
They have been campaigning for freedom to organise — because there are no genuine unions. Only one union is allowed, and it is under the regime's control, often staffed by retired or serving military personnel. The other issues of concern are improvements in wages and conditions. For example, the minimum wage in Jakarta is Rp2400 per day and, in fact, there are many people paid below this minimum. These are the lowest wages in ASEAN.
How much worker protest has there been?
Even the student activists have been surprised at how quickly worker protest has spread. Almost every week, there are strikes or protests of one kind or another. In some cases, these have involved up to 15,000 workers. These actions continue to occur in several cities, especially in Java.
What do you see as the main challenge?
The main challenge is to build an instrument which can consolidate the movement in all sectors and give political direction. Only this way can we achieve the structural change necessary to improve the people's condition.
Could you tell me about the National Youth Front which you represent?
This is a coalition of grassroots campaign groups and other people's organisations. The front's main concern is to strengthen the movement for democracy. Our main demands at the moment are the abolition of laws which restrict political parties and ban genuine independent trade unions.
We are also demanding the involvement of local people's representatives in all planning of development projects that will affect them, and the official recognition of traditional land rights of our indigenous peoples and their right to their traditional beliefs and culture.
What do you think Australian supporters of these developments in Indonesia should do?
The key thing is to strengthen solidarity between the Indonesian democratic movement and the Australian people. This can be achieved by participating in campaigns to support the human rights and environmental groups in Indonesia as well as putting pressure on the Australian government to link economic aid and investment with improvements in human rights and environmental policies. One way to do this is to become involved in groups like AKSI.
How do the activists in the National Youth Front view the issue of self-determination for East Timor?
Since the activists of the NYF have come into contact with student members of the East Timorese resistance groups, there has been a quite high consciousness of the struggle of the East Timorese people for independence.
The NYF views the Indonesian occupation of East Timor as not only violating the basic rights of the East Timorese people to self-determination but also as violating the principles launched by the founding fathers of independent Indonesia, namely, that Indonesia should fight to end all forms of colonialism in the world. What Indonesia is doing today in East Timor is just another form of colonialism.
Self-determination should be possible through a referendum carried out under the auspices of the United Nations. But, of course, an essential precondition is the withdrawal of all Indonesian military forces from East Timor. The Australian government should play an active role in promoting such an outcome in international forums and in the United Nations.