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Organising in Indonesia
"When I started college in 1991", Sari said, "I was like most other students: apolitical and wanting only to enjoy life". Her political awakening started in December 1992, when she attended a demonstration on campus about human rights, it was organised by the still underground Student Solidarity for Democracy in Indonesia (SMID).
"I realised that although it was a student demonstration, it was not just about the rights of students, but rights for all people. Education is a human right although in Indonesia it is so expensive that poor people can't send their children to school or university. I started to realise that the issues revealed by the students must also be the issues of the people." PPBI is part of a broader alliance including SMID, the National Peasants Union (STN) and the People's Cultural Network (JAKER).
There have been strikes that PPBI has not been involved with. In the Medan strike which erupted in riots earlier this year, PPBI was not involved until the preparation for the action had started. Before strike action, workers need a political education in when to use the tactics of strikes. "Since we weren't involved in this preparation, the military can provoke easily. So it was a little bit spontaneous; it wasn't arranged well and the demands were too high."
Following a recent strike by 3000 workers in Jakarta over three days, the PPBI now views transportation and manufacturing as priorities to organise.
Building a student movement is also important because the students developed "their theoretical understanding and analysis and they have had radical experiences in the past. They have built many committees with peasants in struggle."
Speaking of both the student and workers movements, Sari argued, "We have to unite them, the theoretical understanding of the students and the militant experience of the workers. Alliances between students and workers are getting wider, and the number has increased."
In many cases the alliances are built following unionisation of a factory and subsequent strike action. "If the capitalists do not meet their needs after several days of strikes, then we organise an alliance with the students because maybe if we get an alliance with the students we will be stronger. The masses realise they are not alone."
Because of repression, the movement has been operating underground for seven or eight years, Sari explained. But it is important to try to bring the struggle out into the open, to fuel the radicalisation.
The movements are taking some time to adjust to activity on "the radical democratic level" because they have little experience in open work. Now the "people's organisations" were not just in contact with working people but also with other political tendencies. "You have to make alliances with bureaucrats and politicians who may not support the people's organisations", Sari explained.
The opposition to Suharto is growing rapidly. Sari identified those who want to reform the political system, as tending to focus on Suharto the individual, rather than on foreign and domestic capitalists as a whole.
There is a reformist current that sees the struggle as "just for democratisation". "We have to deal with them in order to enlarge our joint power, to enlarge the alliance."
Some of the reformists do want to build independent trade unions. They have experience and training in this area. As long as independent unions existed, Sari thought the reformists could be pushed "to be more radical". However, with the government- controlled "yellow" unions, she didn't think this possible.
Women workers suffer from the worst conditions of all workers: wages of less than $1.50 a day, no health insurance and no transport or meal allowances.
"In north Jakarta we organised a committee of workers in a slum area. Most of the bravest, militant and disciplined organisers there are the women. It is a very hard area; many unemployed people make trouble for the workers, asking them for money and harassing the women as they walk past. The women have to be strong both emotionally and psychologically.
"Secondly, north Jakarta is closer to Jakarta, so the more liberal and free culture of the city lessens that patriarchal consciousness among the workers; most of them come from villages where women are very tied to the family.
"Thirdly, the women in the area are organising because they have nothing to lose. Most of them come from poor peasant backgrounds. Many hundreds of women come to the city to look for a better life, but still they receive a bad one."
Since the development of capitalism in Indonesia the number of women entering the work force has significantly increased. The share of women in the labour force today is around 40%, mainly on the land and in factories. The exploitation women workers face under capitalism is reinforced by patriarchal consciousness in society generally.
Sari was optimistic about the union movement growing. She pointed to the strong grassroots base that had been built, so that if there was a crackdown, others could continue the work.
The workers need to "get to know you, become familiar and realise your program".
A crackdown can have an impact on the radicalisation process. "Sometimes if you don't have enough consciousness, you retreat because you are afraid of being beaten again by the military." In other cases, "it makes you stronger".
In Sari's opinion, most of the time their comrades came out stronger. "Through the repression we can select the militants, the most militant."
The first demonstrations were attacked by the military. PPBI broadened the issues after that: "not just the undemocratic government but the military state, the repression. It depends on how you respond whether you can make the political benefits."
It is good to show the government the political bargaining power of the working class. Mochtar Pakpahan was arrested last year about three months after the Medan riot and he was sentenced to three years.
The Medan riot involved 40,000 workers and was a very inspiring event for the workers. It also opened the eyes of the liberals and the democrats in our country, showing them the potential strength and the obvious bravery of the Indonesian working class.
Our organisation is in support of all oppressed peoples. Therefore we must be vocal about our support for the people of East Timor. Twenty years of invasion and killing in East Timor must stop.
We have helped to set up an alliance in solidarity with East Timor. It consists of the PPBI, SMID and East Timorese people. We must speak out about the East Timorese situation.
People have been deprived of complete and true information about what has really been going on in East Timor. They don't know, so often they don't care. And if they do want to ask questions or even speak out against the atrocities, they are scared.
They do know that many people have been killed inside East Timor and they know very well how the Indonesian military reacts to strikes and protest in Indonesia.
Also, the nationalist sentiment spread by the Indonesian government confuses people. They try to convince the people not to listen to outside information, stressing the self- determination of the Indonesian peoples to decide their own views on such matters. The people become convinced that such international viewpoints will destroy the unity of the Indonesian government and cause chaos.