BY MAX LANE
During 2000, only the People's Democratic Party (PRD) championed the political slogan: "Smash the remnants of the New Order, leave behind the fake reformers". But now, following attempts by the party of former dictator Suharto and the military to force the resignation of President Abdurrahman Wahid, the first part of the slogan has been taken up by the multitudes.
Golkar, the political machine of Suharto's hated New Order regime, was behind the February 2 vote in the Indonesian parliament which backed a special committee report claiming that Wahid had been "involved" in two financial scandals.
Since the February 2 vote, Golkar has continued its agitation for Wahid's removal. Its parliamentarians, alongside MPs from the right-wing Muslim Central Axis, have sought to garner enough support to call a special session of the People's Consultative Assembly, the only body which has the power to sack the president. They've also collected 200 MPs' signatures on a petition calling for Wahid's resignation.
Golkar's campaign is meeting with increasing opposition, however, with anti-New Order initiatives coming from three distinct quarters: Wahid's traditional support base in East Java, especially in the religious organisation Nahdlatul Ulama; the liberal middle class; and the left and radical student movement.
Since February 2, there have been a series of anti-Golkar and pro-Wahid mobilisations in Surabaya, the capital of East Java, and in other East Javanese towns, culminating in February 7 demonstrations involving what Kompas newspaper described as hundreds of thousands of people.
The most popular slogans in these huge demonstrations were "smash the remnants of the New Order" and "ban Golkar". After rallying outside the provincial parliament, the demonstrators smashed and burnt three Golkar offices.
Spokespeople for the demonstrators, mainly from groups linked to Nahdlatul Ulama, have promised to bring East Java to a standstill with mobilisations of more than one million if necessary. Under such pressure, many East Javanese politicians have indicated their support for Wahid.
The political content of these mobilisations does not yet go much beyond a fanatical partisanship for Wahid who, as the former head of Nahdlatul Ulama, is the traditional leader of the style of Islam strong in small-town East Java. Some newspapers have reported a few demonstrators saying they will fight for an independent East Java if Wahid is overthrown.
However, there is no doubt that there is also an overwhelming hatred of Golkar and anything that smells of Suharto's New Order. If Golkar continues its offensive, it is more than likely that the mobilisations will increase in size and that large contingents will march on Jakarta.
Wahid has also received the backing of the liberal democrats. Soon after Golkar's campaign to unseat Wahid began, a group of 17 prominent non-government organisations, representing the human rights, legal aid, women's and environmental sectors, issued a statement attacking the special committee report and supporting Wahid.
One of their spokespeople, Hendardi, the director of the Indonesian Association for Legal Aid, condemned the parliamentary majority for focusing on small, insignificant scandals and avoiding any investigation into the massive billion-dollar scandals involving Golkar politicians, including party chairperson Akbar Tanjung, and Golkar-linked cronies. He warned of the threat to democracy if the forces of the Suharto period were to regain power.
On February 3, the Indonesian Lawyers Association announced it was forming a team of 100 lawyers to challenge the special committee's report in the courts. Association spokespersons accused the special committee of relying on hearsay, manipulating evidence, ignoring evidence that went against its aims and working without legal rules or procedures.
The leaders of Muhammadiyah, the mass religious organisation that services a large section of the Central Axis's social base, have also distanced themselves from the anti-Wahid campaign.
A de facto coalition has emerged amongst radical groups as well, between the cross-campus student activists groups which are the descendants of those which organised the massive student demonstrations against Suharto in 1998 and the student and mass organisations linked to the People's Democratic Party (PRD), which are collectively grouped in FRAROB, the Anti-New Order People's Front.
This coalition mobilised 5000 students in a march from the University of Indonesia to the parliament on February 6 and similar alliances have been replicated in several other cities in Java, Sumatra and Sulawesi.
There is no solid consensus on the platform of this anti-Golkar movement. Some student radicals are backing the East Javanese masses' demand for the banning of Golkar.
The PRD, the most consolidated force in the coalition, instead proposes the dissolution of parliament and the formation of a committee of representatives of the anti-New Order mass organisations, which would take charge of the government and organise new elections. It says a people's tribunal should decide whether Golkar should be banned or not.
The party is also demanding the trial of all corrupt officials and businesspeople as well as human rights violators, the abolition of the "dual function" of the military, which allows it to intervene into politics, and the nationalisation of corruptly gained assets.
The mass pressure has scared Golkar. Tanjung has attacked the NU and called on Wahid to end mobilisations against "the political parties". As the anti-Golkar protests and statements increase, Tanjung has had to repeatedly defend Golkar, lamely claiming that the party has changed its ways since Suharto and apologising for its past mistakes.
But while this movement has put Golkar on the defensive, Wahid has held back support for further mobilisation of the masses. Instead he has stuck to his preferred strategy of manoeuvre, tacking this way and that.
While he has sacked one of his opponents within cabinet, the far-right Islamic minister for law and human rights Yusril Mahendra, he has also sought to consolidate the support of his vice-president, Megawati Sukarnoputri, and has issued a joint statement with Tanjung calling for all parties to reduce the level of political unrest.
Sukarnoputri's support for Wahid seems to have strengthened: she has since repeated her opposition to calls for his resignation or for a special session of the People's Consultative Assembly and has backed a cabinet motion of support for the president. Sukarnoputri has also asked members of her party, the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, to refuse to sign the anti-Wahid petition being circulated amongst parliamentarians.
The PRD issued a statement on February 7 strongly criticising Wahid for meeting with the Golkar chairperson. The PRD called on Wahid, his National Awakening Party and the Nahdlatul Ulama to "together go down onto the streets to destroy the remnants of the New Order".
The PRD warned that his meeting with Tanjung and his call for a reduction in political conflict was putting Wahid in the position of "fake reformer" opposed to the democratic movement.
There are some indications that both the National Awakening Party and Nahdlatul Ulama are beginning to feel the pressure from the mass movement in East Java. Party head Mazud issued a statement on February 7 that if Golkar continued to make "hard statements" it would be impossible for he and other party leaders to hold back mass feelings.
There are already reports that more than two million Wahid supporters are planning to mobilise to Jakarta on or around February 16-18.