Home > South-East Asia >> Indonesia

PRD condemns brutal police assault on Makassar students

[The following is a translation of a statement by the People’s Democratic Party (PRD) on the recent clash between police and students at the Indonesian Muslim University (UMI) campus in Sulawesi’s provincial capital Makassar. On May 1 police stormed the UMI campus where students were protesting the detention of Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir who was rearrested on terrorism charges. At least 61 students were seriously injured in the assault.]

Just recently the Indonesian people have been reminded to be on guard and fight the symptoms of the reemergence of militarism in Indonesia because of the emergence of the political parties of former President Suharto’s New Order regime – the Concern for the Nation Functional Party, the Indonesian Justice and Unity Party and Patriot Pancasila – now they are being reminded again by the barbaric display which was provided by the Makassar police. This militaristic act which resulted in scores of students being wounded is evidence which strengthen the view that militarism, in all of its manifestations, is again becoming a threat which haunts the struggle for democracy in Indonesia.

Barbaric repress of this kind is of course nothing new for the Indonesian police, because it is occurring everywhere and to people from all social layers. The incidents which befell the farmers in Bulukumba1 and Manggarai2, the victims of land evictions in Jakarta, are cases which we have witness so often during the government of President Megawati Sukarnoputri and Vice-President Hamzah Haz. What befell the UMI students is just one such incident and it is essential that all elements of the democratic movement take a stand on this issue.

The Megawati-Hamzah government is not even pretending to be serious any more about resolving the many cases of human rights violations committed by the military and police. Moreover, case files of rights violations continue to pile up on the desk of the National Human Rights Commission and remain unresolved because it is not possible to get the military to submit to civilian law, because the Mega-Hamzah government is a government of the fake reformists has clearly chosen to ally itself with the military and its political machine, the former state ruling party Golkar. There is already sufficient evidence, there is no need to wait for more proof, blatantly and openly, the military is reemerging and involving itself in politics, reoccupying former positions and taking full advantage of the momentum of the presidential elections which will be held on July 5.

The recent dismissal of the Makassar provincial chief of police and East Makassar regional police chief was simply an attempt at bribery by the police to anticipate the growing anti-militaristic sentiment, especially so that it does not broaden any further as a result of the bloody UMI incident. These steps will not halt the process of militarism and will not bring to an end the militaristic character of the Mega-Hamzah regime’s state apparatus.

The PRD therefore calls on all elements of the democratic movement and popular opposition to unite:

1. Unite the people’s movements throughout the country to block the return of military forces who are restricting democratic space and the destroying the livelihoods of the Indonesian people.

2. Oppose former armed forces chief Wiranto, former coordinating minister for politics and security Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Megawati as presidential candidates in the coming presidential elections because they too will restrict democratic space.

3. We call on all elements of the democratic movement, especially students, to hold simultaneous solidarity actions on their campuses as a show of support for the Makassar student’s struggle and as a form of consolidation and reunification of the democratic movement to fight militarism.

  • Build the unity of the people, reject militarism!
  • Form a government of the poor!
    • Central Leadership Committee of the PRD
    Jakarta May 1, 2004

    s/- Yusuf Lakaseng, general chairperson
    Zely Ariane, general secretary

    Notes:

    1. On July 21, 2003, three farmers were killed by police in Bulukumba South Sulawesi during a demonstration by rubber plantation farmers. According to the National Human Rights Commission abuses by police also included torture of suspects and sexual harassment of female detainees.

    2. On March 10, 2004, farmers attacked the Manggarai police station in regional capital of Ruteng in Flores after several of their colleges were arrested and beaten by police following a long running land dispute. Police fired shots to disperse the crowd, killing four and injuring 28.

    [Translated by James Balowski.]