Socialist Action /May 1999
 Political Tensions Rise in Indonesia
By GERRY FOLEY
As Indonesia approaches the June general elections that are designed
to restabilize the country politically, it is evident that the situation
remains explosive.
In two areas where the post-New Order government has offered concessions,
East Timor and Aceh on the island of Sumatra, there have been new massacres.
Paramilitary forces began a wave of killings in Dili on April 17 in the
course of a campaign to force people to sign petitions calling for maintaining
the area within Indonesia. The Indonesian president Habibie has promised
that the Timorese will have the right to vote for independence and that
he would respect their decision.
The South East Asian solidarity news service ASIET reported on May 3:
"Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) Marzuki
Darusman has said the defiance of East Timor's pro-integration militias
against any United Nations (UN) presence in the territory signifies the
armed forces' (TNI's) determination not to let East Timor achieve independence.
'If East Timor was let go, it would discredit the whole armed forces completely,'
he said.
"Darusman, who is also a chairman of the ruling Golkar party, however,
also said it was virtually impossible to prove that the military was directly
supporting and encouraging the violence unleashed by the pro-integration
camp in East Timor. But, he said, there is no sense in denying it."
On May 3, the army made a brutal attack on sympathizers of the Aceh independence
movement.
An ASIET dispatch reported May 4: "One of the wounded told the paper
that he had been shot in the head even though he was lying on the ground."
ASIET cited a dispatch from the Aceh-Sumatra National Liberation Front
based in Sweden. It said that on Sunday, May 2, troops entered a village
in an attempt to arrest a front activist. But the local people protected
him.
The troops returned the following day and began rounding up thousands
of unarmed villagers. When the people resisted, the troops opened fire at
point-blank range, killing 44 and seriously injuring up to 150.
At the same time, in the central industrial areas, the labor movement
is continuing to reorganize and go on the offensive. On May 1, some 400
supporters of jailed labor leader Dita Sari, a member of the People's Democratic
Party (PRD), rallied at the University of Indonesia in Jakarta to demand
her release.
The PRD is the best known left party in Indonesia. It suffered severe
repression at the hands of the New Order government. It has now been recognized
as one of the 48 parties contending in the election. But many of its leaders
remain in prison.
On May Day, also thousands of workers came from the Jabotek industrial
area to the University of Indonesia campus in Salemba, to celebrate the
workers' holiday.
A May 4 dispatch from ASIET quoted a dispatch from Detikcom as saying:
"At 3:30 p.m. the commemoration began with the singing of the Workers'
Marching Song, with the left hand raised in a fist. As the agenda was begun,
masses of workers could be seen still arriving, most arriving by public
transport such as buses....
"After the workers had gathered, the atmosphere was full of color.
There was a group which brought a banner with the writing 'Free Dita Sari
and Free [All] Political Prisoners,' their shouts echoed across Jakarta."
Socialist Action /May 1999 |