INDONESIA: Protesters See the Beginning of the End for Suharto

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Kafil Yamin

JAKARTA, May 14 1998 (IPS) - The killing of student demonstrators by security forces in Indonesia has galvanised protesters and the political opposition to President Suharto, marking what analysts say could be the beginning of the end of his 32-year regime.

The calls for his resignation following the economic crisis have grown louder in recent weeks and the shooting incident on Tuesday has put more pressure on the strongman to step down, analysts say.

“Suharto has to step down first, by whatever means acceptable, to give way for the nation to disable the power which has thus far been too centralized and embodied in the President,” said Marsilam Simanjuntak, a founder of the Forum for Democracy.

Suharto, who has largely ignored demands for greater political freedoms, was in Egypt for the Group of 15 Summit when violence erupted on Tuesday. He is reported to have cut short his trip to return home to face a mounting crisis.

Anti-riot police shot dead six students during a demonstration at a university campus in Jakarta on Tuesday. Violence broke out anew on Wednesday when police battled students and other protesters attending a funeral service for the six.

About a dozen people were wounded and several others missing amid reports of massive looting in the capital as well as the torching of a petrol shop and cars.

“Hang Suharto! Hang Suharto and his family,”shouted demonstrators in a huge rally in Bandung in West Java also on Wednesday. “We will continue to fight until he is removed.”

The six casualties were students of Trisakti University in the capital who had joined anti-government rallies to protest against recent increases in fuel and power rates.

The cuts in subsidies on commodities and other economic reforms are among conditions stipulated by the International Monetary Fund, which has put together a multi-billion dollar package to revive the Indonesian economy.

“It’s a blatant snub to human dignity. It makes me very angry,” said Adi Andojo Soetjipto, a former Supreme Court justice who is also dean of Trisakti’s school of law, in reference to the violence.

Judging from blood stains found at a building inside in the campus, Soetjipto concluded that “the students were shot while inside the campus grounds”.

Student demonstrations which began three months ago at first were confined in university campuses across the archipelago, slowly spilling onto streets in urban centres.

This week’s bloody protests again caused jitters in currency and stock markets in Indonesia and neighbouring countries and sparked fresh concern about stability in a country with a history of violence.

The rupiah fell to 11,700 to a dollar on Thursday, from 10,400 the previous day and 9,300 earlier in the week.

Defence minister Wiranto has ordered an investigation into the killings, which has provoked fear and uncertainty but at the same time galvanised the political opposition.

Wiranto earlier said he understood the students’ aspirations but he applealed for patience as “political reforms take time”.

Prominent political figures met on Wednesday to discuss the worsening situation, among them legal activist Adnan Buyung Nasution, Muslim leader Amien Rais, economist Kwik Kian Gie, former environment minister Sarwono Kusumaatmadja and poet Rendra.

Legislator Adnan Buyung Nasution said that shooting will make reforms inevitable and called for an intensive probe into the case. “Apology and condolence is not enough. Legal punishment should be given to those who are responsible for the shooting,” he said.

Analysts believe the shooting will mark the beginning of Suharto’ downfall. “Now, it’s not only students who defy the (government). Now it’s the entire nation. You can see yourself,” said Mochtar Prabotinggi, a senior lecturer of Ujungpandang-based Hasanudin University.

Calling Suharto’s resignation inevitable, Simanjuntak said this should be followed by efforts to formulate a new system of government, under which citizens are given operational sovereignty and power.

He said there can be no compromise between the students and the government because the reforms being planned by Suharto are quite different from those being demanded by the students.

The students explicitly demand that the People’s Consultancy Assembly reconvene for an extraordinary session and allow Suharto to step down immediately and not allow him to keep his crony cabinet.

Suharto, before leaving for Cairo at the weekend, ordered a review of electoral rules and political regulations where reforms can be introduced.

“Soeharto is offering reform procedures, under which he will be able to maintain his power,” Simanjuntak said. He said Suharto’s efforts to keep the national car project and the monopolistic practices in clove trading, despite agreements with the IMF are evidence that he is a man who will never give in.

“We have never seen him concede anything without trying to regain it,” he said.

Political observers say what the military, which has played a key role in Indonesian politics, would do in the coming days bears watching.

An American professor, Steve Hanke, of John Hopkins University in Baltimore, who is one of Suharto’s economic advisers, painted a gloomy and frigthening scenario in remarks in Geneva on Tuesday.

He said the austerity measures prescribed by the West were not working and attempts to push these reforms could trigger more unres. “The whole thing is going to blow up. I thought it would take three to four months but it is going to be sooner,” Hanke was quoted by a news agency as saying.