POLITICS-INDONESIA: Riots Ease, but Uncertainty Rises

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Kafil Yamin

JAKARTA, May 11 1998 (IPS) - At the height of last week’s anti- government protests, students at the Bandung Institute of Technology set up a makeshift slum shanty. Above it hung a banner that said: “Life is getting hard. In need of new president.”

That symbolises the rising public anger, led by Indonesian students, against the government of President Suharto, who has led the country for 32 years now.

That anger boiled over last week, after the government imposed steep increases in the prices of fuel, electricity and transport as part of an austerity programme with the International Monetary Fund.

Student rallies that had been largely confined to university campuses turned into street clashes with police. In places like Medan in Northern Sumatra, non-student protesters joined in and began hurling stones at shops and houses and setting cars ablaze.

After the Medan violence caused at least six deaths, military officials warned that sharpshooters had a standing order to shoot looters and arsonists on sight.

“That’s what we have warned them,” Defense Minister Gen Wiranto said. “The students cannot control the situation if the stage rally outside campus.”

A day after Wiranto’s statement, street protesters clashed with police in the Central Javan capital of Yogjakarta. A protester, Moses Gatutkaca, was killed after being struck a fatal blow to the back of his head with a blunt object.

In Bogor, West Java, a police officer died from injuries after being hit by a stone thrown by protesters. In the West Java capital of Bandung, at least 20 students of Padjadjaran University were wounded after a rally Saturday.

For now, the worst of this latest episode of violence has eased. But uncertainty, perceptions of instability and pressure on Suharto himself are only rising.

“He (Suharto) is behind all this trouble. Only his downfall can make help restore all this mess,” said Ade, another Bandung student.

Calls for “reformation” of Indonesia’s political system have since given way to open, angry calls for no less than Suharto’s replacement after three decades in power.

Many people say what while strident, the students’ calls represent a limited sentiment and do not make for an organised opposition. But Wimar Witoelar, a popular political commentator, said: “The students’ aspiration is the whole people’s aspiration, you can’t just deny that.”

Student protests also received a boost from anti-government critic Amien Rais, who called for the reconvening of the People’s Consultative Assembly to discuss the handling of Indonesia’s worst crisis in decades.

Rais heads the 28-million strong Muslim grassroots organisation Muhammadiyah, so its views could indicate the start of opposition to Suharto that goes beyond students or disgruntled ethnic groups.

Right after returning from a trip to the United States, Rais said: “The students are right. The nation’s leader should be replaced by a more capable person.”

“When we spelled out ‘political reform’, the authorities think of a review of electoral rules, House regulations and other trivial things. Now, they should know what we really want: Soeharto’s downfall,” said Adjie, speaker of the Bandung Institute of Technology students.

Thus far, however, recent events have not been enough for the authorities to grasp the students’ real message.

Defense Minister Wiranto recently said he understood student demands and that “all have agreed that we need these reforms”, but appealed for patience because “political reform would take time”.

“There are certain channels and rules to follow,” he said, adding the military would reply to the students’ demands. But how far such “reforms” can go — and whether they can be enough — is unclear.

Just before his departure Saturday to attend a Group of 15 summit in Egypt, Suharto asked the House of Representatives to review electoral rules and political regulations with a view to introducing some reforms.

Earlier this month, Suharto had been quoted by Home Affairs Minister Hartono as saying political reforms should wait until 2003. But criticism forced the government to backtrack on these comments, saying the remarks had been misunderstood.

Hartono said that among others, current rules that let Indonesians vote only for parties and not individuals, in elections for Parliament could be changed.

Vice House Speaker Syarwan Hamid, who is also a member of military faction in the assembly, made it clear “reformation” cannot touch the position of the president, who in March had been given a mandate for a seventh, five-year term.

“Please don’t touch this subject. It will be too hard,” Hamid told editors of electronic and print media at the House building over the weekend.

Hamid argued that students’ aspirations are not necessarily the entire country’s aspirations: “You cannot claim opinion of 1,000 people as the opinion of 200 million people.”

Hamid’s statement was challenged by academics from 48 leading universities and institutions, who threw their weight behind student rallies for “reform”.

But while anti-government critics are getting bolder and calls for a new leader getting louder, the issue of who the alternative to Suharto could be remains hazy.

So far, most of the protesting students have no idea about who this “capable person” can be. Asked who he would like to succeed Suharto, Adjie of the Bandung Institute of Technology replied: “Frankly speaking, we cannot give you an answer if you ask who should succeed Suharto.”

Some believe that a change in the national leadership would ultimately be determined by the position of the military, which has long played a key role in Indonesian politics.

Said one analyst who asked for anonymity: “If the military take students’ side, prospects for change are in sight. If it continues clinging to Suharto, the prospects for worse destruction is there.”