Spotlight on Indonesia
Students arrested at Golkar congress
Hundreds of students demonstrated in front of the national parliament on July 20 on the second day of a Golkar party congress. Golkar, the party of former President Suharto, has many members that occupy ministerial and parliamentary positions in President Abdurrahman Wahid's government.
Protesters called for Golkar to be disbanded. Party flags were ripped down and burned. Six activists were arrested and may be jailed.
Around 70 activists from the People's Democratic Party (PRD) also organised a "long march" from central Jakarta to the Jakarta Convention Centre, where the congress was being held. PRD speakers called for Golkar members to be tried for crimes carried out during the Suharto dictatorship. Members of City Network also demanded that the party be disbanded and that Golkar parliamentarians step down.
In Yogyakarta, Central Java, hundreds of students from the Indonesian Front for Youth Struggle (FPPI) staged anti-Golkar protests in front of the governor's office on July 26. They also demanded that the government return disputed land to farmers and reform the agrarian laws. FPPI members demonstrated in Jakarta on the same day.
Farmers demonstrate for agrarian reform
Thousands of farmers from the Indonesian Farmers Union converged on the National Development Planning Board (Bappenas) office in Jakarta and then the national parliament on July 18. They were demanding that the government revise agrarian laws to allow farmers freedom to organise, fair distribution of land, freedom from civilian and military intimidation, and the return of land forcibly taken over by the regime of former President Suharto.
The protesters called on the parliament to draw up a new land reform bill when it convenes in August.
Students demand Trisakti shootings be solved
Around 100 students from the Trisakti University demonstrated in Jakarta on July 18 to demand that a special parliamentary council be formed to investigate the fatal shooting of four Trisakti students on May 12, 1998. The students also demanded that parliament question figures suspected of involvement in the riots in Jakarta on that day.
Students said that when they met with Golkar parliamentary speaker Akbar Tanjung and six parliamentary fractions last April, the politicians had promised to form such a council.
Land dispute continues in Central Java
Some 80 students from the Gajah Mada University (UGM) in Yogyakarta, Central Java, under the banner of Student's Solidarity for Pagilaran Peasants, staged a protest on July 24 against their university administration.
The group is demanding that the university resolve the prolonged land dispute between local peasants and PT Pagilaran. The university is the commissioner for PT Pagilaran, which is using the stolen land for tea production.
Students demanded that military involvement in the dispute end and that UGM and PT Pagilaran pay compensation for the stolen land.
Workers demand wage increases
Some 1500 workers rallied at the Jakarta Special Province Local Administration office on July 24 to demand the increase in minimum regional wages promised by Jakarta governor Sutiyoso. Coordinator of the All Indonesia Workers Union for the Pulo Gadung Industrial Complex, Mustakin, said: "We are only asking for 500,000 rupiah per month (US$56). It is badly needed because the price of basic commodities is increasing."
Mini-bus drivers strike in Sumatra
A public transport strike by hundreds of mini-bus drivers on July 26 in Pekanbaru, the capital of Riau province in North Sumatra, clogged the city's main roads and left thousands of commuters stranded. The drivers, who were demanding an end to an extortion racket by local police and thugs, parked their vehicles around and in front of the provincial legislative council building.
[For more detailed reports of these and other actions, visit the Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor web site at <http://www.asiet.org.au>.]