Indonesia: why the army still calls the shots
On June 3, Resistance activist SAM KING interviewed People's Democratic Party (PRD) leader DHYTA CATURANI in Indonesia. Caturani will be visiting Australia for three weeks in July and will attend the Resistance national conference in Melbourne, July 8-11.
Question: What do you see as the main task facing the Indonesian democracy movement four days before the first "democratic" election for 44 years?
At the moment, there are massive illusions among the people that the elections represent a way out of the crisis that has hit the nation. These illusions have been sown deliberately, especially by the regime and the parties and political forces supporting the status quo.
The masses have been filled with illusions even by the reform parties. The euphoria about the elections has been exploited massively by most parties, who have only one concern: that the elections proceed smoothly and that they grab as many votes as they can.
So, they mobilise huge numbers of people but introduce no element of political education. They rely on feudal cultural outlooks, which are still very strong in Indonesia and which deify individual leaders. They spend much more time building a cult status for an individual leader than they do explaining their party's program.
These illusions among the people are real and pose a real difficulty for the democratic movement in Indonesia. The democratic struggles being waged by parties like the PRD or by the students have to contend not only with the regime, but also this kind of consciousness among the masses.
But the struggle will not end. We have to win the masses away from their current outlook. The key thing is to continue with political education among the people, explaining what is happening around them and what the people of Indonesia should do. We have to use every bit of the greater democratic space that is open to us now.
The PRD is using the elections to reach out to the widest possible mass of people with our politics. We have used every chance to distribute our material explaining the main 10 enemies of the people — including the regime itself, its institutions, the big capitalist cronies and, of course, the military — and how to fight them. Our material has urged the people to join together at the grassroots to rid ourselves of the old regime, its institutions and the military, as well as to struggle for lower prices and greater availability of the main commodities people need.
Question: What is the relationship between the Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI) and President B.J. Habibie's regime?
ABRI and Habibie still remain a strong united force, a legacy from the Suharto period. Forget all the rumours about splits between them; they are entwined in a mutually beneficial alliance. ABRI will support Habibie in the next presidential election in return for Habibie guaranteeing the continuance of ABRI's "dual function" in military and political affairs.
Question: Does the military treat the democracy movement differently today than during the Suharto era?
There's no change and no difference. The military remains the vanguard force of this regime. The main proof is that its dual function is still enshrined in the system and in law. So, the military has legal legitimacy to continue to intervene in politics, economics or other aspects of civilian affairs.
Using their old refrain of the need to "safeguard national stability", the military continues to intimidate the democracy movement. It is still playing the main role in harassing and dispersing student and worker protests. On May 21, it was the military which used tear gas and brute force to disperse students. At a worker demonstration in north Jakarta on May 20, it was the military which used force to disperse the demonstrations and arrested 21 people.
The most terrible examples are the ongoing operations in Aceh, West Papua and East Timor, which the military is carrying out while singing the praises of the elections.
Question: What are the views of the main moderate opposition parties — Megawati Sukarnoputri's Indonesian Democratic Party-Struggle (PDI-S), Amien Rais's National Mandate Party (PAN) and Gus Dur's National Awakening Party (PKB), of the dual function of the military?
The loyal opposition parties, such as PDI-S, PAN and PKB, have adopted a compromise position. They talk about a gradual abolition of the dual function, but that is like chopping off some leaves and branches but leaving the roots strongly embedded.
Why do they take this position? It is in the interests of the loyal opposition to make an accommodation with the military. They realise that it is the military, with its dual role, that is the real pillar of the political system here.
They know that to oppose ABRI and its dual function would mean political death for them, so they embrace the military instead. Their promises that the dual function can be phased out in five or six years is a concession to the aspirations of the people and the demands of the democracy movement, but in reality it is a betrayal of this movement. They are vacillating opportunists.
The biggest danger on the horizon is the prospect of collaboration between that section of the loyal opposition that wins the elections and ABRI. We could end up with the same oppression we suffered under Suharto.
Question: What positions do the moderate opposition parties take on other issues the PRD campaigns around, such as bringing Suharto to trial, nationalising Suharto's assets and rejecting the IMF agreement signed in February 1998?
None. They always ignore the PRD's call for a united stance on these issues. They are just part of the national bourgeoisie who dream of power. For example, of the 48 parties, only two have a clearly stated opposition to the dual function.
When some of these parties, like the PKB for example, demand the trial of Suharto, it is only for corruption. They never demand that he be tried for all the violations of human rights he has committed over the last 32 years.
On the question of the IMF, all of the loyal opposition still hope that the IMF funds will overcome the country's economic crisis. Megawati and Amien Rais recently issued statements guaranteeing protection for all foreign investment.
Question: What are the PRD's prospects for forming coalitions with other parties?
The PRD's program calls for the formation of a united democratic government. From the beginning, the PRD has striven to forge coalitions and united fronts, like the Indonesian People' Assembly in 1996 or the Independent Election Monitoring Committee in 1997. But we have refused to compromise our goals for these united fronts.
Recently, we called on the reform parties (including PAN, PDI-S, PKB and Partai Keadilan) to struggle together to defeat the 10 enemies of the people that we had identified. If the PRD has not been able to build such a coalition it is because there has not been the kind of agreement necessary on the kind of struggle needed.
For this reason also, the PRD is not engaging in any of the pre-voting Stambus accords [in which parties that do not reach the quota of votes for a seat or have an excess of votes after receiving the quota can transfer their votes to other parties]. To transfer our votes to such opportunist parties would be a betrayal of the people.
Our first priority is to use our campaign to spread political education, not to join in the scramble for votes at any cost. The only coalition the PRD is interested in is one based on agreement on a program of struggle, not on winning more seats in parliament.
[Dhyta Caturani and Romawaty Sinaga, head of the international department of the Indonesian National Front of Labour Struggle, will be feature speakers at the Resistance national conference in Melbourne, July 8-11.]