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Mimbar Oposisi (Opposition Forum)
Number 1 – September 2003
[The following is a translation of the first issue of Mimbar Oposisi (Opposition Forum) the news letter of the recently formed People’s United Opposition Party (POPOR).]
Why do the people need a totally new government?
In general, the people already know that five years after the fall of President Suharto’s New Order dictatorship, their economic livelihoods, which were bad under the New Order regime have become even worse, even more so during the era of the government of President Megawati Sukarnoputri and Vice-president Hamzah Haz. Looking for a job is more difficult and those who do have work continue to be dismissed – which has now been made easier though Labour Law Number 13/2003. The price of goods and services has risen, the cost of education and health is increasingly out of reach. The urban poor in the cities are being evicted and their homes and places of work demolished. In the villages, the purchasing power of farmers continues to decline as a consequence of allowing the import of cheap food (in accordance with the dictates of the International Monetary Fund). All of this has now been aggravated to by the recent drought.
All of these things are facts which are well known by the people. As a result, society in general has come to the conclusion that all of the elite which are in power are the same and that all of the political parties are the same. There are even those who are short sighted and have unthinkingly come to the conclusion that it was far better during the era of the New Order. This is a false consciousness on the part of the people about the real national economic situation.
The international economic situation, which is currently experiencing a crisis and as a result needs to expand its markets into the developing countries, has already forced our national economy to accede to the interests of foreign capital. Under the banner of “globalisation”, the masters, the owners of international capital (though the IMF, the World Bank and the World Trade Organisation) have decreed that Indonesia liberalise food imports (in the near future Indonesia will again become the largest importer of food products), there are mass sackings and the wastage of state funds to pay the foreign and domestic debt which was accrued by the New Order and its cronies. So great is the royal command of these masters, in the case of the debt, its total has now exceeded the total government budget for development. Their lackeys, Megawati and Hamzah Haz have cut (if you don’t want to say got rid of) the budget for education, health and other government services. Moreover, in accordance with the royal commands of the lords of capital, state enterprises must be sold off because they have allegedly become a nest of waste and corruption (although the people have then watched with amazement as they saw the waste which has occurred in the process of selling off these assets and have felt sad and helpless at seeing the bribes which were paid to “smooth” their sale).
And what then have the elite
politicians in parliament been working on? Isn’t it said that we have “democratically”
elected representatives of the people in the parliament?
It is bitter lesson for
the poor. All of the parties in power (from Suharto’s former state ruling
party Golker, Megawati’s Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle, the United
Development Party, Amien Rais’ National Mandate Party, the Islamic Crescent
Star Party and the National Awakening Party of former President Abdurrahman
Wahid) have agreed to carry out the economic policies of neoliberalism,
bringing misery to the poor. They prefer to become the lackeys of international
capital and are no different from the contemptible Suharto who proceeded
them. Rather than wearing themselves out improving small scale agriculture
by providing cheap loans and appropriate technology, they prefer to import
rice and sugar. Rather than exhausting themselves changing the economic
order which is racked by crisis, they choose to become the scalpers for
the sale of state assets which are the livelihood of the people. Without
hesitation they are even ready to sell off Indonesia’s water resources.
Therefore, when the political elite, even more so the military, carry on about the issue of nationalism, it is merely empty talk. The only nationalism which remains is the red and white national flag, the national anthem and the prowess of the military in destroying people’s struggles from Aceh to Marauke, which they claim is being done to maintain the unity and integrity of Indonesia. It is they who are the enemies of the people and who are most evil. It is because of this that they must be resisted.
Recently we have witnessed so many corrupters, cronies of the New Order, who have been freed with the issuing of an Order to End an Investigation (SP3), such as Suharto’s eldest daughter Tutut, Suharto crony and business tycoon Prayogo Pangestu, the director of the state’s workers’ insurance company, Ahmad Junaidi and textile magnate Marimutu Sinivasan. Or the disappearance of former bank owner Samadikun Hartono, Suharto crony Syamsul Nursalim and others because the intervention of the Attorney General. Recently we have also witnessed the violent return of militarism resulting the peoples of Aceh and West Papua again becoming the victims of violence. This has happened for one reason only, because of the betrayal of the parties which are in power, who for the sake of maintaining their power are licking the butts of the military, Golkar and the corrupt New Order cronies. These enemies of the people must also be destroyed.
The democratic character of the supposed democratic opportunity – which has been given to the people by those in power through the 2004 general elections – has proved to be doubtful. It has already been undermined by political censorship though the Law on Political Parties, the Law on Elections and the Law on the Presidential Election, who’s spirit and substance is obviously aimed a killing the political space and the development of new political forces who could offer a different and better alternative to the people. Furthermore, when these new forces, the new political parties seek to fulfill the requirements to be registered and participate in the elections, they face bureaucratic obstacles and threats. Oppression is being used again. This is the treatment which was experienced by the People’s United Opposition Party (POPOR) during the process of building its branch structures and seeking verification in its attempt to fulfill the requirements as a political party as required by the department of justice and human rights. Without this undemocratic treatment by the remnants of the New Order and the parties which are in power, by uniting the progressive opposition forces within POPOR, it should have been able to fulfill the requirements. And now even the General Elections Commission has become a tool of the ruling parties with the recent and clearly unjust decision on the deadline for registration of political parties, that is October 9, 2003, which was only announced on September 27. This is unjust because the ruling parties were not obliged to fulfill the same requirements to participate in the elections.
The people must find their own solution
The principal source of this oppression which must be correctly recognised is the issue of state power. They control the state and then oppress the people because they are building their political machines, building their political parties, their press, all of this through money politics. Therefore it is also time for the oppressed people to build their own political force, a party of the oppressed people themselves, one which is prepared to unite with all elements of the oppressed people and all other democratic forces to struggle together. This must concretised in political action and forms of political struggle. Those democratic opposition forces who reject the need to build a united extra-parliamentary struggle or to combine this with tactical pressure through parliamentary struggle are also enemies of the people. The recent political and military victories in Aceh, the question of West Papua, the alleged war against terrorism and so on, are evidence of the sins of the opposition movement in Jakarta which refused to unite to resist militarism. Objectively though, it remains difficult for the political interests of the military to come out into the open because of the their past sins and crimes during the New Order period.
The divisions in the struggle and the inability to unite this struggle has only resulted in another tale of defeat in the struggle of our people. For as long as workers limit their struggle to policies which just harm workers, for as long as farmer limit their struggle to agricultural issues, or for as long as the urban poor only become active when they are evicted and their homes are bulldozed, the gains of this kind of struggle will remain scattered and dispersed (referred to as reformism) and its benefits for the people will be extremely limited and of a temporary character only. Local and sectoral struggles at the city, regional and national level are clearly very necessary, however they must be encouraged to confront the actual source of their problems. The level of struggle which the people need at the moment is a people’s political struggle which as soon as and as actively as possible, brings to an end the people’s oppressors, the political parties and the elite which are in power, by establishing a government of the people themselves.
Only with power in the hands of the people themselves can we stop paying the debts which were corrupted and inherited from the New Order and those that came to power afterwards. The entire state budget could be set aside to build factories all across the country, pay for free education and health for the people, provide the capital and modern, cheap technology which is need by farmers to improve their welfare and the quality of their lives, to subsidise basic goods and services for the people (power, electricity, telephone services and so on). With power in the hands of the people the plundering and sale of the people’s assets (state industries or those which are managed by National Bank Restructuring Body) can be ended, tight control over food imports can be applied, smuggling can be eliminated, the corrupters can be swept away without all the formalities and etiquette of noble laws which enables the corrupters to walk free and take off with the money they have plundered, all of the anti-democratic legislation can be abolished and the perpetrators of human rights crimes jailed.
This is the solution for the people, this is the solution of the People’s United Opposition Party, this is POPOR’s solution.
Action update
The bureaucracy, remnants of the New Order and the ruling parties try to stop new parties from winning
The parties in power, the bureaucracy and remnants of the New Order acted undemocratically to muzzle the development of new political parties, during the process of establishing POPOR leadership bodies and during the process of verification by the department of justice and human rights at the regional, regency and city level. The following data is far from complete and is still being compiled. POPOR will be calling on the Election Monitoring Committee to take firm action and take sanctions against the perpetrators:
1. On September 3 in the village of Sukagalih in the sub-district of Taragong Kidul in Garut, West Java, the head of the neighbourhood and local administrative units RT/RW 06/04 refused to provide a covering letter for the administration of a certificate of residence for POPOR’s City Leadership Body (DPK) on the grounds that it was questionable that the owner who had rented the residence was a local person. The next day, on September 4, the DPK again approached the RW to ask for the letter. The RW said that local people must be informed first. On September 5, the head of the RW said in writing that they were prepared to provide the letter as long as the RT was in agreement. On September 6, the head of the RT said that he didn’t understand about political parties and would hand the entire matter over to the RW. Because they were making things difficult, on September 7 the head of the DPK tried to get the RT and RW to make a written statement that they had refused to provide a certificate of residency. But they were not prepared to do this.
2. On September 22 the head of the DPK in Banyuresmi, Garut, was stabbed by thugs. But after reporting the incident to police their was no attempt to resolve the case.
3. The head of the Argomulyo village/political district in the regency of Bantul, Noto Suwito (Suharto’s younger brother), refused to sign a certificate of residency on the grounds that POPOR was a dangerous political party. The head of the RT and the RW did not have the courage to sign the letter because they were frightened of Suwito.
4. During verification by the department of justice and human rights in the city of Donggala, the government official concerned was late. After waiting for more than an hour and the official had still not arrived, head of the DPK had to leave because they had other urgent business. This resulted in the DPK being unable to complete the verification process. Similar cases also occurred in the Morowali regency, both in the province of Central Sulawasi, and in East Java and East Kalimantan.
5. In Banten province, the department of justice and human rights refused to allow a regional office to be opened in Tangerang on the grounds that the office must be located within the province the capital city. When they were informed that was not a stipulation required by the laws on political parties and the elections they used the pretext that it was a regional policy which was in accordance with local autonomy. In fact the stipulations on the verification of a political party are determined nationally not by the region or city administration.
6. Also in the Banten province, heads of the party’s city and sub-district boards were intimidated by the regency/city department of justice and human rights and threatened by local thugs to force them to resign from the POPOR’s leadership board. Because they were frightened, in the end a number of city and sub-district leadership heads resigned and as a result were unable to establish the structures required for verification by the department.
Protests against electoral commission irregularities blocked by police, POPOR demonstrates at the parliament rejecting the draft laws on labour relations
On September 23, around 400 POPOR members, the majority being workers and students, gathered at the proclamation monument in Jakarta before moving off to the offices of the National Electoral Commission (KPU). The demonstration was intending to protest the KPU’s unjust behaviour towards the new political parties and because it had become a tool of the parties in power when it had set October 9 as the deadline for the registration of political parties. The new political parties were only given 12 days to complete the requirements for the party to participate in the elections. This is unjust because the parties in power were excepted from such requirements.
However before they could leave at 11am, the demonstrators who were lead by POPOR secretary general Dony Pradana and general chairperson Yusuf Lakaseng, were encircled by hundreds of police. Police then threatened to forcibly breakup the rally if they took the action at the KPU. Although Lakaseng had already explained to the police that they would guarantee that the action at the KPU would be conducted in an orderly manner and that they had already informed the KPU that they would be holding a 20 minute demonstration at their offices, they were still not given permission to protest. Demonstrates then took buses to the KPU offices which were tightly guarded by a police at the front and rear of the convoy. When they arrived at the traffic lights on Jalan Imam Bonjol next to the KPU offices, the demonstrators were prevented from approaching the KPU and forced to turn back.
Trying to prevent a clash from occurring, the POPOR demonstrators then took their action to the national parliament (DPR/MPR) to demonstrate against the promulgation of the law on labour relations which coincided with a sitting of a plenary session of the DPR to legislate the draft law. In its statement, POPOR condemned the legislation of the draft law, which in truth is a procedural law drawn from Law Number 13 on labour. These two laws are of one spirit, duplicated from Law Number 25/1997 which was promulgated by the New Order and which has been broadly rejected by workers. The essence of these laws is to bring industrial laws into accord with the interests of foreign capital – along with the interests of greedy domestic capitalists – where the state wants to abandon its responsibility to workers, legalise the system of contract work and weaken the function of trade unions.
Mimbar Oposisi
Mimbar Oposisi (Opposition Forum) is published by the Central Leadership Board of the People’s United Opposition Party (POPOR).[Translated by James Balowski.]Editorial board: Dita Indah Sari, Doni Pradana, Yusuf Lakaseng, Sulaeman, Heru Atmodjo and Roysepta Abimanyu.
Address: Jl Tebet Dalam ID No 9
Jakarta Seletan 12810.E-mail: persatuan_oposisi@mail.com