By Kerryn Williams
[On June 8, 2001, Indonesian police broke up the Asia Pacific People's Solidarity Conference at Sawangan, near Jakarta, arresting 32 foreign participants. Kerryn Williams was one of those detained.]
"Welcome to democracy in Indonesia!", exclaimed one Indonesian activist when we were released after 24 hours of detention in the Jakarta police headquarters. For the foreign conference participants, the attack by police and right-wing militias on the Asia Pacific People's Solidarity Conference was a shocking, bizarre and unforgettable experience. But for those active in the Indonesian democracy movement, such incidents are common-place.
What happened at Sawangan showed the whole world one very simple fact — Indonesia is far from democratic. Those aligned with the former Suharto dictatorship are not gone and forgotten — they are still in positions of power in the police and army, continuing their daily repression of the Indonesian people. Now they are embarking on a renewed push to regain control of the government.
Since the conference there have been constant protests across Indonesia against the price rises for fuel and electricity dictated by the Washington-based International Monetary Fund, which will further devastate the lives of millions of already impoverished Indonesians.
Workers have also been demonstrating against changes to the labour laws, which will abolish redundancy pay-outs to sacked workers. Many of these demonstrations have been attacked by the police, and many of the organisers have been rounded up and arrested.
Some activists from the People's Democratic Party (PRD), one of the key organisations leading the movement for democracy, have been arrested, then beaten by police before being taken through official arrest procedures.
Student activists are being singled out by police and arrested. Street kids and urban poor youth face daily harassment by police and their hired thugs.
The brave activists in the democratic movement should not only be admired and commended for their continuing fight for full democracy in Indonesia. They must be actively supported in their struggle. The incident at Sawangan should be seen as a rallying call to all those people around the world who believe in democracy to urgently step-up our efforts to provide solidarity with the Indonesian democratic movement.
To get involved contact <asiet@asiet.org.au>. To send donations, deposit money in the People's Power Fighting Fund, Commonwealth Bank, Railway Square, 857-859 George St, Sydney. Branch number: 062026. Account number: 1006 0743.