>From: "Alan Bradley" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > >The following article appears in the latest issue of Green Left Weekly >(http://www.greenleft.org.au): > >INDONESIA: Situation explosive as economic and political crisis deepens >BY MAX LANE > >The 10 years to 1998 was a decade of escalating mass protest in Indonesia, >climaxing in the 1998 mobilisations of hundreds of thousands of people >across the archipelago which toppled the aging dictator, Suharto. But that >decade will be nothing as compared to what is down the line during the next >one. I have been visiting Indonesia now since 1969, 31 years ago, and I >have never seen anything like what is happening now. > >The economy has not recovered from the 1997 Asian economic crisis. Domestic >demand has picked up substantially in the last 12 months, but it's been >fuelled by regular injections of hundreds of millions of dollars of >International Monetary Fund loans and by a spurt in exports made possible >by the collapsing rupiah and the deregulation of commodity exports. > >The rupiah has lost 30% of its value in the last two months; the stock >market plummeted 25% over the same period. > >While the official forecasts still hope for 4-5% growth, the head of the >Indonesian Bureau of Statistics has indicated that it will more likely be >1.4% -- a disastrous figure for a country that has lost as much as 50% in >output since 1997. > >Crony capitalism > >The economy is even more dependent on mineral, agricultural and light >manufacturing exports than it was before the crisis. The revival, let alone >expansion, of production is dependent on the conglomerates belonging to >Suharto cronies, most of whom are still in massive debt to Indonesian and >foreign banks. > >The IMF is helping to reschedule the debts of these corporate bandits; many >are trying to sell equity to new foreign partners to get finances to pay >off debt. > >The official debt now is huge, about US$170 billion, more than Indonesia's >GDP. More than 50% of foreign exchange earnings are now eaten up by debt >repayments. > >Meanwhile, according to a survey by a World Bank-funded monitoring agency, >more than 40% of the textile and garments work force have lost their jobs, >as have more than 75% of construction workers. > >Poverty > >Poverty has hit all the major cities in the archipelago. The same agency >assessed that about 40% of those classified poor before the crisis have had >to sell their �assets� to survive, their radios, old TVs, furniture. > >Official wage rates have gone up but employer compliance is low and, in any >case, the rises that have been made -- all less than 50% -- don't even take >real wages back to 1997 levels. > >Crime -- including violent theft -- is rapidly increasing in the big >cities. Some areas are already considered no-go areas for middle-class >people with something that could be stolen from them. > >The rural areas on Java, where more than 100 million people live, has also >been hit hard. Millions have been forced back into the villages. The >pressure on land is increasing again and land occupations are on the >increase. > >The sugar industry, probably the second biggest agricultural sector, after >rice, on Java, is basically bankrupt. The IMF has insisted on lowering the >barriers to sugar imports, forcing the local industry to the wall in less >than two years. The US is dumping rice -- as �food aid� -- undercutting >local rice farmers and thereby increasing poverty. > >Oil price rises of 12% originally scheduled for April have now been >rescheduled for October. In the meantime electricity prices for medium and >large firms and public transport prices rises are already fuelling >inflation. > >Ruling class discredited > >The government is weekly, if not daily, rocked by one scandal after >another. > >For example, President Abdurrahman Wahid's personal masseur was able to >sell his �influence� with the president to someone who wanted to obtain a >position in BULOG, the government agency in charge of marketing rice. The >masseur promptly disappeared with his $7 million �fee�. > >There are many other cases, including the appointment of Wahid's brother to >the agency which has taken over Indonesia's bankrupt banks. The brother, a >professional politician, explained that he was employed to be a preman, or >�thug�, for the agency. > >In May, the attorney-general, the �clean skin� Marzuki Darusman, issued a >legal document ending all investigations of Texmaco, one of the country's >largest manufacturers and declaring it innocent of any actions harming the >country. The company has a debt of $1 billion to the now government-run >banks and has been exposed for borrowing the money under false pretenses. >Rumours abound as to how much Darusman received for the backdown. > >Then there have been the dismissal of economic portfolio ministers and >their replacement by Wahid cronies and attempts by Wahid to remove the >governor of the Bank of Indonesia, a move prevented by the courts and the >parliament. > >The government has lost almost every court case it has taken out against a >Suharto crony. Even the owner of the notorious Bank Bali, implicated in >huge money laundering for the supporters of former president BJ Habibie, >had a higher court hand the bank back to him. > >Figures linked to the IMF and World Bank have started urging the >appointment of ad hoc judges from Holland (most Indonesian laws are still >based on Dutch law.) > >The scandals envelop the entire political elite and all parties in >parliament. Party congresses are reported as undignified battles between >money-hungry cliques. The May congress of vice-president Megawati >Sukarnoputri's PDI-Struggle was sometimes even depicted as a battle between >cliques run by either Megawati's husband or by alleged jealous ex-lovers. > >Newspaper reports almost every day carry some new rumour about meetings >between two or more of parliamentary speaker Amien Rais, Megawati and >Golkar party head Akbar Tanjung, or people linked to them, as they >allegedly plot to unseat Wahid at the next session of parliament scheduled >for August. Every rumour and rebuttal is followed by another drop in the >rupiah. > >The major political parties' use of private militias to intimidate their >critics and rivals has further discredited them. For example, the Banser >militia, affiliated to the Nahdlatul Ulama religious organisation, which >Wahid headed until he became president, trashed a newspaper office after it >criticised Wahid. There have been several other such well-publicised >incidents. > >Unrest and radicalisation > >Misery, uncertainty and a discredited ruling class come immediately upon >the heels of a decade of steady politicisation of the population. Hundreds >of thousands were drawn into the mobilisations of the last year of the >Suharto dictatorship, and millions more saw what mass action could do. > >As the people slowly become convinced that the military have been forced >into retreat and repression has lessened, more and more social struggles >break out everywhere. > >A spectacular breakthrough was the strike and protest outside parliament by >40,000 teachers demanding a 300% wage rise. In April, 40,000 striking >cigarette factory workers brought the large city of Kediri in Java to a >total halt. The strike lasted 11 days. > >Police headquarters for Jakarta and the surrounding region reported >attending 601 strikes for the January-April period, with 224 strikes or >protests recorded in April alone. > >The militant Indonesian National Front for Labour Struggles (FNPBI) can now >attract workers to its offices just by distributing leaflets offering the >union's help in organising. It has now expanded outside textiles, garments >and other light manufacturing to automobile assembly as well as harbour >workers. > >Student movement activity is also reviving, especially to demand Suharto's >trial. In recent clashes between students and the police, there have also >been renewed signs of the willingness of the urban poor to come out onto >the streets to defend the students. During the next academic year, the de >facto privatisation of the big state universities will galvanise additional >student activist opposition to the government. > >In Aceh and West Papua the movements for self-determination continue to >gain strength. Just a week after the 2700-strong Papuan Peoples Congress in >West Papua, hundreds of Acehnese occupied the provincial parliament to >demand the election of new representatives who would struggle more >seriously to organise a referendum on independence. > >There is widespread interest on campuses in Marxism. People's Democratic >Party (PRD) leaders are speaking almost daily at campus forums around the >country. > >All the major bookshops now have special stands with Indonesian language >books about Che Guevara and Karl Marx, as well as about Indonesia's own >non-Communist Party leftists, like Tan Malaka. The book on the life of >Budiman Sujatmiko, PRD chairperson, has sold out. Marxist web-sites are >popular. > >The audience for left ideas is also identified by some of the brains in the >liberal bourgeoisie. Publishing tycoon Gunawan Mohammad, who owns Tempo >magazine, is sponsoring the publication of a new left-flavoured weekly, >Kritik. > >New priorities for imperialism > >The deepening crisis in Indonesia is re-ordering the political and economic >priorities of Washington, London and Tokyo, as well as Canberra. During the >Suharto period, when everything seemed stable, priorities were determined >by commercial competition between US, European, Japanese and Australian >corporations. > >Now the priority will be saving capitalism in the archipelago. The massive >scale of the IMF bailout package, to which even Australia has promised a $1 >billion contribution, is one signal of this. > >The US and its allies are pumping in money to tame any potential >radicalisation. Moderate trade unions and non-government organisations are >being pumped full of Western cash, especially through the US-funded >Solidarity Centre in Jakarta. There are also reports that the >social-democratic Socialist International, to which the Australian Labor >Party is affiliated, is funding a new �left� publication. > >The major imperialist powers were also unanimous in their approval for >Jakarta's rejection of self-determination for West Papua, following calls >for a referendum on independence issued by the Papuan People's Congress. > >Australia and the US have now both resumed military cooperation programmes >with Indonesia. Wahid is rehabilitating the military by sacking the hated >Suharto-era generals, like Wiranto, and promoting officers, like >Lieutenant-General Agus Wirahadikusumah, who have been outspoken against >�military involvement in politics�. > >Wirahadikusumah, head of the Strategic Command, has no in-principle >opposition to repression. He explained in a June 18 interview with Tempo >Interaktif that he supports the declaration of local states of emergency if >the police cannot handle unrest. He cited the use of force against >protesters in Seattle as a positive example. > >Support in Australia > >The solidarity movement in Australia must build support for those forces in >Indonesia, primarily the PRD and the mass organisations associated with it, >that are challenging the imperialist agenda by building a workers- and >peasants-based opposition and struggling for their democratic rights, such >as the right to self-determination. > >Student, worker and democratic rights organisations in Australia must >urgently build stronger links with the militant struggle organisations >across the archipelago. > >This needs to be accompanied by a renewed campaign to expose the role of >the international capitalist institutions, such as the IMF, World Bank and >World Trade Organization, in causing the social crisis in Indonesia. We >must also renew the campaign against the Australian government's complicity >in imposing the IMF austerity on the Indonesian people. > >We must also oppose the Australian government's policy of helping to train >and equip the Indonesian military. They are only being prepared to suppress >resistance to this austerity, including to use force once again to stop the >Acehnese and Papuan peoples' attempt to escape from the misery that 35 >years of IMF- and World Bank-supported crony capitalism has produced. > > __________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki - Finland +358-40-7177941, fax +358-9-7591081 e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.kominf.pp.fi ___________________________________ [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe/unsubscribe messages mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] ___________________________________
