ASIET gears up for post-Suharto solidarity
By Karen Fletcher
BRISBANE — "This morning when I wrote this speech, I wrote 'Suharto must go'. Tonight I can say 'Suharto is gone'", East Timorese exile Alfonso Corte Real told a forum organised by the Action in Solidarity with Indonesia and East Timor (ASIET) on May 21. "Independence for East Timor will soon be more than just a dream; it will be a reality."
The forum, just hours after Suharto's resignation, heard from a panel who all emphasised the continuing need for well-organised solidarity with the pro-democracy movement in Indonesia if real democracy is to be achieved from the current wave of mass mobilisations.
The seafarers organiser for the Queensland branch of the Maritime Union of Australia, Bob Carnegie, spoke of the strength his members were gaining from observing and supporting the struggle of workers and students in Indonesia — a struggle with which the union has had a long association.
"We gain heart, knowledge and courage from this heroic battle", he said. "Our fight for our jobs can also only be won in the streets."
ASIET member Karen Fletcher outlined the events which built into the wave of public protest that has now toppled Suharto, including the crucial role of the activists who formed Students in Solidarity with Democracy in Indonesia (SMID) in November 1992 and the People's Democratic Party (PRD) in June 1996.
She emphasised ASIET's commitment to campaigning for the release of the student and worker activists associated with these organisations who remain in jail and called upon ASIET members and supporters to promote the People's Power Fighting Fund and campaign against the Australian government's support for the Indonesian military regime.
Queensland University of Technology lecturer Gary McLennan praised the Democratic Socialist Party and ASIET for their unflagging solidarity with the leadership of the radical democratic movement in Indonesia. He spoke of the hypocrisy of the Australian and US governments, now scrambling to appear to be pro-democracy, despite their longstanding support for the Suharto regime.
"Suharto came to power, in 1965, over the bodies of 1.5 to 2 million people", he said. "At that time the US provided Suharto's military with the names of the 4000 'communists' they particularly wanted slaughtered."
McLennan pointed out that while the US had needed Suharto against the communist threat in Asia, since the fall of the Soviet Union, US interests will no longer tolerate "crony capitalism", which cramps their profit-making in some very lucrative markets.
ASIET and Resistance activists also demonstrated in support of democracy in Indonesia outside the Brisbane shopfront of Garuda Airlines on May 20.
Joint ASIET and Resistance meetings, to plan coming events and activities, will be held every Saturday afternoon at 4.30 at the Resistance Centre, 29 Terrace St, New Farm, whilst the need for solidarity remains at its current high.
Already planned is a day of solidarity in Brisbane city on May 30 and a political prisoners' benefit at Che's Lounge on Friday, June 26. (Organisers of the benefit gig hope that the night may be able to be transformed into a celebration of the release of Xanana Gusmao, Dita Sari, and the other prisoners!)
John Nebauer reports from Melbourne that more than 1200 people, mostly Indonesians, attended a vigil outside Parliament House on May 21. The rally, called by Indonesian students and members of the Indonesian community, featured speeches by members of the community, as well as singing and prayers for democracy. For many, it was their first political rally.