[The following is a translation of a statement sent to ASIET by the underground Peoples Democratic Party (PRD)]
Today, August 17, is an extremely important day in Indonesian history in the road towards freedom. Because today is the day of our nation's revolution of independence, exactly 52 years ago. The struggle to gain independence resulted in the loss of many of our heroes, especially those from the revolutionary groups. The struggle to free ourselves from Dutch colonialism and imperialism was shouldered by all groups and political parties of the nation: Nationalists, Communists, Moslems, Catholics, Christians, Social Democrats and others.
But exactly half a decade and two years after the independence of our nation, a great irony now exists. Our nation is no longer colonised by another country, but is now colonised by its own government, the New Order dictatorship of president Suharto. The sovereignty of the people, which was wrested at the cost of so many of our heroes, has now been taken away completely our own government.
The freedom of association and option which were previously denied by the colonists, have now been obliterated by our own government. Previously, freedom fighters were jailed and tortured by the colonising country, now they are tortured and jailed by our own government. Previously, the people were exploited and oppressed by the colonisers, now they are exploited and oppressed by the business cronies of the president himself.
What is of even more concern, is that those who struggled for this nation's independence were determined to abolish all forms of colonialism, as included in the preamble to the 1945 Constitution. Now the Indonesian government has become the colonialist by invading its neighbour, East Timor. Why then are we now commemorating independence day with such extravagance if we ourselves colonise and oppress our neighbours? Why do we celebrate freedom, when our government slaughters, oppresses and exploits its own people and those of our neighbours?
We firmly believe that the sovereignty of the people must be upheld! The freedom won by the August 17 revolution, which has now disappeared, taken away by the oppression of the New Order dictatorship, must be retaken. In this [task] the PRD are determined to mobilise the people to crush the New Order dictatorship and replace it with a peoples democratic coalition government.
Learning from the August 17 revolution, we are certain that the struggle to free the people from oppression must be shouldered by all political groups. The PRD has repeatedly called for, and tried clear the way for, the formation of a united front. A united front is a vehicle by which to unite the pro-democratic struggle in a joint program and platform. With a united front we will be able to mobilise the masses in large numbers to pierce the very heart of New Order's power.
The peoples' level of political consciousness is already high, anti-dictatorship sentiment has spread everywhere. This can be seen from the vigor of the peoples' resistance (1) since the July 27, 1996 crackdown: Situbondo, Tasikmalaya, Sangau Ledo, Samarinda, Jakarta, Bangkalan, Sampang, Jember and other places (2). The peoples' radicalisation has increased so quickly because of the increasing burden of oppression which they suffer, added to by the "heating up" of the political situation in the lead-up to the next session of the MPR (3) and the twilight years of president Suharto. The thing we regret is that the peoples' resistance has been categorised as a problem of SARA (4). The issue of SARA appeared because there was no political leadership from pro-democracy groups. Without leadership, the angry masses can be exploited by military agents to turn it into a SARA issue so that it is not directed towards the authorities. The masses are easily exploited by military agents because for 32 years they have been separated from the world of politics and do not know how to fight effectively.
In the future, our task should be to provide political leadership to the angry masses. [The task of] our leadership is not to end the riots, they cannot possibly be stopped by pro-democracy groups, or even the dictatorship's itself. Riots such as this are a part of the history whenever there is no democracy. Such riots as part of the course. With all of the democratic institutions shackled, manipulated and sterilized by the dictatorship, the people know no other way to struggle for their interests.
In March next year, the puppet session of the MPR will be held. This is a gimmick of the New Order to give the impression that it practices democracy. In reality, we all know that the MPR is no more that a puppet of Suharto. Only a small part of the MPR is chosen at the general elections – which [in themselves] are unfair and undemocratic – most members are appointed by the president himself. Manipulation has started even before the MPR session has begun, that is by appointing H. Harmoko, who is also the Golkar [state party] chair, as a "Minister of Special Affairs". The coming session of the MPR will not be about the sovereignty of the people, as pictured by the New Order regime, but only to maintain the power of Suharto and his reelection as president. Because of this we must reject the outcome of the MPR session! Reject the engineering of the MPR session! Reject the renomination of Suharto!
Apparently Suharto is aware that he will face increasingly difficult challenges as the MPR session approaches and after he is chosen again. These challenges have emerged from within the country in the form of the peoples' resistance and from international pressure which continually corners the dictatorship. We all know that resistance from within the country combined with the support of international solidarity is most effective in fighting the dictatorship.
In order to face this challenge, Suharto has already begun pressuring members of the DPR (5) and the MPR to reenact MPR regulation No. VI/1998, which legitimises him to carry out and enforce repressive regulations. Apparently the dictatorship has no other means to handle the social unrest except repression, even though it has been proven that repressive measures to handle social unrest are no longer effective.
This threat of repression must not make the democratic movement retreat, instead we should make it the impetus to increase our militancy and push us to find more sophisticated methods of resistance. Where ever and when ever struggles to free people from oppression have faced repression, the measure of the quality of the movement is whether or not we are able to maintain ourselves under such repression. A movement of such quality will have the strength to survive in this most repressive atmosphere. And we have already proved this, we have already passed the "smaller test" of the July 27 crackdown which did not destroy our movement. After July 27, the quality of our movement increased.
A final word. In reflecting on the August 17 revolution we can increase the quality and militancy of our struggle. A struggle which is radical, militant and disciplined, added to by unity between all of the pro-democracy groups, is the key to winning democracy. And there is something we must remember. The struggle to uphold democracy in Indonesia must be combined with the East Timorese struggle for self-determination. The struggle for democracy in Indonesia and the East Timorese struggle for self-determination face the same enemy, the New Order regime. Continue the struggle!
Translators notes:
1. The original term used was "pemberontakan". "Pembrontakan" is closer in meaning to "rebellion", "revolt", "uprising" or "mutiny" rather that resistance/struggle. In other sections of the text "pembrontakan" has been translated as "riot". These refer to locations of mass riots and/or violent confrontations with the authorities over the last year.
2. MPR: Mejalis Permusyawaratan Rakyat, People's Consultative Assembly. The highest legislative body in the country with 1,000 members, 425 of whom are elected with the remainder being appointed by the president. It meets once every five years (usually around a year after the general elections) to hear an outgoing report from the president, enact the Broad Outlines of State Policy (Garis Besar Haluan Negara, GBHN) and to vote on nominations for the president and vice-president. The next session of the MPR will be held in March 1998.
3. SARA: Suku, agama, ras dan antar golongan, An acronym meaning ethnic, religious, racial and inter-group conflicts. A loosely defined term with negative connotations, it is frequently used by the regime to describe conflicts which are deemed to threaten "national unity" or "stability" and are at odds with the state ideology of Pancasila and the concept of "unity in diversity".
4. DPR: Dewan Perwakilan Rakyat, Peoples Representative Assembly (Parliament). Consisting of 500 members, 425 elected from the three officially recognised political parties during the general elections: Golkar (the state party), the United Development Party and the Indonesian Democratic Party. The remaining 75 members are appointed by the president from the military (who are not allowed to vote).
[Translated by James Balowski]