Anita Rachman – An Indonesian version of the Occupy Wall Street movement that went global over the weekend might gain supporters, activists and observers say, if only its organizers could get organized.
The Facebook account Occupy Jakarta only had 66 "likes" as of Sunday evening and the Twitter account @occupyjkt – which said it was urgent to occupy Jakarta because food, water, education and development are people's rights and not commodities – had 93 followers. A second, @occupyjakarta, had five.
A rally on Sunday morning at the Hotel Indonesia traffic circle to mark World Food Day was initially thought to be part of Occupy Jakarta as some protesters held banners saying they were part of Indonesia's 99 percent – the slogan symbolizing the marginalized majority popularized by the Wall Street protesters – but that turned out to be an accident.
"I think we need to organize this better if we want a real movement," said Mariana Amiruddin, executive director of Jurnal Perempuan, a women's rights magazine, who attended the rally thinking it was the Occupy Jakarta movement.
Yuyun Harmono from the Anti-Debt Coalition said Sunday's rally was mixed since some protestors came to commemorate World Food Day.
Despite the confusion, several Occupy Jakarta supporters said they wanted a real movement here, though for reasons different than those in Wall Street. "Indonesia's 1 percent are the government, [greedy] corporations and politicians," Mariana said. "Corruption impoverishes people."
An Occupy Jakarta supporter from Surabaya, Eri Irawan, said it was important to remind people about greedy corporations. "The 1 percent in Indonesia are businessmen who collude with each other," he said. A Facebook post invited supporters to occupy the Indonesia Stock Exchange on Wednesday.