Democracy the loser as Megawati-military alliance take power
July 27, 2001
"It hasn't taken long for the resurgent forces of the Suharto military
dictatorship to exercise their greater freedom to carry out repression
after the removal of the Wahid government", Pip Hinman, national secretary
of Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET) said today.
"There are now more political prisoners in jail than in the last year of
the Suharto dictatorship", said Hinman. "The democratic space opened up by
the movement to oust Suharto in 1998 has been dealt a severe blow with the
election of a military-backed Megawati government."
Two activists in Lampung, south Sumatra, were hospitalised with severe
burns on July 22 when military thugs set them alight. They were asleep and
part of a hunger strike in protest at the return to power of the
military-New Order forces. The activists from the Popular Youth Movement
and the Indonesian Cultural Network (JAKER) were part of FAOB, a
Lampung-based alliance of 16 democratic organisations.
The People's Democratic Party, one of the New Order's most vocal critics,
is demanding the Megawati government organise early elections on a district
system, that Golkar and Suharto be bought to trial, that the subsidies for
fuel and basic goods be reinstated, that the assets of the New Order
cronies be confiscated and the foreign debt be repudiated. The party's
chairperson Budiman Sujatmiko is being harassed by the regime and many PRD
activists in Bandung, in central Java, have been detained since late June.
Since the beginning of July, some 19 Acehnese activists have been detained.
A police-military-militia raid on the Banda Aceh Legal Aid Institute on
July 20 resulted in 15 activists and their lawyers being detained by the
police. Thamrin Ananda, secretary-general of the Acehnese People's
Democratic Front (FPDRA) and Mahmudal, chairperson of Student Solidarity
for the People (SMUR) were arrested. On July 11, FPDRA chairperson,
Kautsar, who visited Sydney in January, was detained and charged with
subversion. More arrests were made on July 21-22 in Banda Aceh.
Some 19 members of the People's Democratic Party and the Indonesian
National Front for Worker Struggles (FNPBI) have also been detained in
Jakarta, many of whom face charges for the "crime" of handing out leaflets
opposing new taxes on basic goods.
In addition, there are at least 29 West Papuan pro-independence activists
in prison or under house arrest, including 22 detained in October and
December of last year for taking part in flag raising ceremonies.
ASIET is supporting the protest being called by the Acehnese community and
Indonesian democracy activists against the new Megawati-military government
for Saturday July 28, 1-3pm outside the Indonesian Consulate, Maroubra Rd,
Maroubra. The protest has been called in response to the crackdown on
democracy and is demanding the that military get out of politics, that all
political prisoners are released and for no military ties between Australia
and Indonesia.
For more information contact Pip Hinman from ASIET on (02) 9690 1230 or
0412 139 968, Eco from Warta on 0401 008 105 or Mohammad Dahlan from the
Australia-Aceh Association on (02) 9972 0382.
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