INDONESIA: Besieged Government Calls Polls, to Free Prisoners

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IPS Correspondents

JAKARTA, May 25 1998 (IPS) - The besieged government of President Bacharuddin Jusuf Habibie on Monday unveiled key decisions, including the holding of new parliamentary polls, that show a realisation that cosmetic changes will do little to restore stability to Indonesia.

The decision to hold polls came amid growing pressure from within Habibie’s own Cabinet, Indonesian student protesters and opposition leaders who had been clamouring for it since President Suharto stepped down under public pressure last week.

Over the weekend, five Cabinet members joined calls by the coordinating minister for industry Ginandjar Kartasasmita for a “new government with a new mandate from the people”.

Ginandjar, who plays a major role in dealings with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), said the Cabinet members sworn in Sunday saw themselves only as temporary figures ahead of a new parliamentary election. The next polls are not scheduled to be held until 2002.

The decision to hold new polls, to take place after laws for political participation are freed up, in effect a transitional leader of Habibie, Suharto’s vice president and chosen successor.

State Secretary Akbar Tanjung said the Cabinet set no date for elections at its first meeting Monday. But he said the idea was to hold elections “as soon as possible”, possibly within six months to a year, after making changes to free up restrictive laws on political activity.

This scenario would mean that after parliamentary elections, the 1,000-member People’s Consultative Assembly would convene to elect a new president and vice president.

The poll announcement clears up a key area of uncertainty raging since Suharto said last week that Habibie would serve out the rest of his presidential term due to expire in 2003.

Subsequently, Justice Minister Muladi also announced that two political prisoners would be freed later in the day from Cipinang prison here.

Rejoicing erupted Monday afternoon among anti-Suharto activists and friends waiting for labour leader Mukhtar Pakpahan and former parliamentarian Sri Bintang Pamungkas to walk out of the city prison, home to many political prisoners rounded up during President Suharto’s 32 year-old rule.

Pakpahan was jailed two years ago for organising workers, while Bintang is serving a sentence for defaming Suharto. They called for the release and pardon of all political prisoners in Indonesia, vowing to return to Cipinang if this did not happen.

Also on Monday, the defense chief, Gen Wiranto, sought to address anti-government activists’ demand for accountability by the military by saying 14 armed forces officers had been pinpointed in the fatal shootings of six student protesters here two weeks ago.

These decisions, coming less than a week after Habibie was handed power by Suharto, reveal a realisation by his government that there is very little choice but to demonstrate real change immediately to rebuilt Indonesia’s tattered image.

That realisation stems from the fact that Indonesia’s political uncertainty — and widespread doubts that Habibie can introduce real reforms to change the political and economic structures under Suharto — is not helping it address a crippling economic crisis.

Habibie finds himself in a very precarious position.

“Although he has promised a measure of much-needed political reform, the task ahead is daunting,” Adam Schwarz, author of the book ‘A Nation in Waiting: Indonesia in the 1990s’, said in a commentary published Monday.

“Mr Habibie has even less legitimacy than Suharto, is a less skilled politician, comes to the job with a very limited base of support and will be very hard-pressed to explain the very rapid growth of the business interests of his extended family,” he added.

The Habibie government is thus hard pressed to demonstrate the ability to act on key demands of student protesters, or see its shaky hold on power fall through.

It is well aware, though, that time is running short for urgent action to stop the economy’s free fall. The situation took a sharp turn for the worse over the past two weeks, which saw riots in the streets that led to Suharto’s fall.

And despite political changes in recent days, there has been little improvement on the economic front.

Food shortages continue, jobs are scarce, much commercial activity is in a standstill and inflation has soared to 50 percent — and the International Monetary Fund is taking a wait-and-see attitude.

Some economists say Indonesia’s foreign reserve levels are about to run out, prompting Asian leaders to urge the Fund to act fast.

At a meeting of Asia-Pacific finance ministers in Canada Friday, Malaysia’s deputy premier and finance minister said institutions like the IMF, World Bank and Asian Development Bank needed to “come on board” to ease the social crisis in Indonesia.

“I don’t think any (added delay) is fair,” Anwar said, referring to remarks by IMF and U.S. officials that they needed to wait “a bit” to see the political situation settle in Indonesia. “The people (have) suffered in the process.”

“The key now is to have the kind of economic and political circumstances in Indonesia that would enable the programme to be effective and it is a little premature to discuss IMF negotiations at this time,” U.S. Treasury Secretary Robert Rubin had said.

In the wake of recent riots and unrest, the Fund suspended further disbursements of a 43 billion U.S. dollar bail-out package for Indonesia. The IMF is sending a team to Jakarta this week.