By Max Lane
Already last month in Jakarta, the Suharto dictatorship had increased surveillance and repression in the lead-up to the coming Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) heads of state meeting. When visiting human rights, pro-democracy and environmental organisations, the presence of intelligence agents, referred to as intel, was noticeable everywhere.
Several activists had already been summoned for interrogation. These included Mulyana Kusumah, deputy director of the Legal Aid Institute (LBH), who was still being called in the first week of October.
Other LBH activists, such as Wilson, a co-editor of LBH's magazine Jurnal Demokrasi, was also being sought for interrogation. Labour and pro-democracy activist Daniel Indrakusuma was also reportedly being sought.
In Yogyakarta, meetings to hear poetry readings by the satirist Emha had been cancelled by the local military.
In response to a strike by Jakarta bus drivers, the military arrested 35 drivers, choosing them randomly as a means of intimidation. These acts follow the banning of Tempo, Detik and Editor news weeklies in June and the trial and sentencing of trade union leader Moktar Pakpahan in September.
Reports from Jakarta since the beginning of October indicate that the tightening of repression is continuing. On 5 October, the government-controlled Indonesian Journalists Association (PWI) announced it had cancelled its "recommendation" for the editor of a new weekly political paper, Simponi.
Simponi had been taken over by former staff of the banned Detik and revamped to look exactly like Detik. Its lead article was on the role of the CIA in bringing Suharto to power. It also carried a review of Pramoedya Ananta Toer's book The Fugitive, as well as articles by moderate pro-democracy figures from the military. In the face of the withdrawal of PWI support, Simponi has been forced to suspend publication after just one issue.
The following week, Mitra Media, the internal bulletin of the feminist organisation Kalyanamitra, was banned by the Department of Information. At almost the same time the outspoken radio program, Jakarta Round-up, broadcast on Trijaya FM, was banned.
Then on October 12 a second police summons was issued against academic commentator and political figure George Aditjondro. The summons says he is wanted as an "accused/witness" in a case relating to insulting a state authority.
Aditjondro has been an activist in NGO circles for some time and has recently become very outspoken on the issue of East Timor. He had just returned from an international conference on East Timor in Germany and Portugal when he received the summons.
At a press conference in Yogyakarta on October 12, Aditjondro told student supporters that he would defend academic freedom and freedom of speech. He had appointed Yogyakarta LBH lawyers to assist him in dealing with the police.
On the same day in Palu, in central Sulawesi, police and military attacked a peaceful rally protesting against changes in the school week implemented by the Ministry of Education. Several students were beaten and several more arrested.
Following the dispersal of the demonstration, a delegation of student leaders proceeded to police headquarters to inquire after those arrested. The delegation was thrown out after several were punched, and one student leader, Amin Agusalim Umar, was arrested on the spot.
The intimidation has not stopped pro-democracy activity. During September and early October, Students in Solidarity with Democracy in Indonesia (SSDI) and activists from the Peoples Democratic Union (PRD) organised student-worker and student-farmer rallies at the University of Indonesia.
Another grouping of student and environmental activists, the Peoples Democratic Alliance (ALDERA), held a public meeting to launch themselves in late September. ALDERA involves activists from the student group PIJAR and the environmental centre, SKEPHI.
At almost the same time, nationalist figures launched a new book by the former Indonesian ambassador to the Soviet Union, Manai Sophian, outlining the CIA role in anti-Sukarno demonstrations in 1965 which helped General Suharto to come to power.