Indonesian anti-military campaign gains support
By Max Lane
The Indonesian political establishment has finished celebrating two of its most "holy" days. These were Pancasila Day on October 1, celebrating the crushing of the Indonesian Communist Party, which began on October 1, 1965, and Armed Forces Day on October 5. The celebrations were much more subdued than at any time in the last 32 years. Both the Habibie regime and the armed forces (ABRI) are under attack.
This year, October 1 and 5 were marked by demonstrations demanding that the armed forces withdraw from politics. Student demonstrators' demands for an end to any political role for ABRI have been echoed by other sectors.
The first demonstration against the military outside an army base occurred in Lampung, South Sumatra, on October 1. Lampung was the city in which the student campaign against Suharto began last January.
Five hundred students, workers and farmers marched from the Bandar Lampung University to the Black Garuda 043 Military Command Headquarters.
The action was organised by the Lampung Youth, Students and People Family (KMPPR). The KMPPR includes students from the three major universities in Lampung and activists from local "command posts" — centres that organise struggles around local demands, such as the redistribution of farm land or the sacking of corrupt officials.
Leaders of the Lampung People's Council, an umbrella group of student, farmer and worker groups, also attended and spoke at the march and rally.
The key demands of the rally were abolition of the "dual role" of ABRI, repeal of all repressive political laws and regulations, rejection of Habibie, the trial of Suharto, nationalisation of all the assets of Suharto and his cronies and the freeing of all political prisoners.
The protesters also called for the formation of people's councils at all levels, which could develop as the embryo of a civilian democratic coalition government.
Speeches cited the role of the military in massacres, including in East Timor, West Papua, Aceh, Tanjung Priok in Jakarta, Lampung and other regions.
As the protesters marched to the army base, local kampung dwellers emerged from the laneways to follow the demonstrators. Military and police moved quickly to block these masses from joining the march.
Scores of armed soldiers were sent out of the base to surround the protesters. After more speeches calling for the military to withdraw to the barracks, the students, workers and farmers marched back to the University of Bandar Lampung.
Becak drivers
The KMPPR organised a similar march to the base again on October 5. This time the military was better prepared.
Army and intelligence officers had organised large numbers of becak (trishaw) drivers to blockade one of the streets along the march route. The becak drivers shouted attacks on the students, blaming the economic chaos on student demonstrations and calling the students communists.
According to KMPPR leaders, well-known army intelligence officers were identified among the becak drivers.
A student delegation approached the becak drivers to explain the demands of the demonstrators. After some discussion, the drivers changed their views and withdrew the blockade.
Closer to the army base, the march faced another blockade by becak drivers. This time the becak drivers refused to speak with the student leaders, accusing them of speaking on behalf of ordinary people without involving them.
At this point worker and farmer leaders who were a part of the march joined the negotiations. Their efforts resulted in the becak drivers once again being won over, and the drivers cleared the becaks off the road.
At the gates of the army base, more speeches took place. Military police attempted to push the protesters back five metres from the gates, but unsuccessfully.
The rally closed with the singing of the national anthem and the reading of a protest manifesto echoing the KMPPR demands.
Other cities
Similar protests took place on October 5 in most major cities. In Jakarta 2000 students protested outside the national parliament, demanding the end of the ABRI dual function.
The students, representing 54 campuses in the Jabotabek region on the outskirts of Jakarta, cheekily called themselves KOSTRAD. KOSTRAD is the acronym for the Strategic Army Command, but this time also for People's Strategic Coalition against the ABRI Dual Function.
The rally demanded that the seats in the parliament set aside for members of the military be abolished, that all military currently holding positions in the government apparatus resign and that the system of deployment of military forces at provincial, district, sub-district and village level be abolished.
The cross-campus activists' coalition involving students from other campuses, City Forum (FORKOT), held a demonstration on the same day putting forward similar demands.
In a separate rally, 2000 students gathered at the University of Indonesia to demand the end of the dual role.
In Yogyakarta, as in Lampung, the anti-dual function actions began on October 1. Four hundred students from the Islamic University of Indonesia marched to the government radio station, occupied it and broadcast their manifesto for 10 minutes.
The manifesto contained four demands: confiscation of the assets of Suharto and his cronies and a trial of Suharto; for the parliament to force this to happen; for the People's Consultative Assembly to formalise the confiscation; and for the end of all intervention by ABRI in civilian society.
On October 5 another rally was held outside the gates of the Air Force Academy in Yogyakarta. Indonesian newspapers reported thousands of students from several campuses marched through the city and rallied outside the academy. They called for a dialogue with the candidate officers at the academy, but this was rejected.
Three hundred students from the Muhammadiyah University attempted another occupation of the government radio station. They were not successful, but the station management agreed to record their statement and broadcast it later.
Anti-ABRI protests also took place in several provincial cities.
Wider backing
The demand for an end to the dual function has also received support from traditionally more conservative sectors.
Delia Noer, a prominent academic sociologist and chairperson of the newly formed Islamic Community Party, on October 5 demanded that all members of the armed forces seeking civilian positions resign from the military.
Noer also called for a reconsideration of the dual function doctrine, for ABRI representation to be removed from the parliament and for ABRI to be subordinate to civilian government.
Even the United Development Party fraction in the parliament, elected in the Suharto period, has proposed that ABRI representation be ended.
On October 7, Professor Ismail Sunny, one of the country's leading legal figures, stated that the ABRI representation is unconstitutional.
In the same week, Hariadi Darmawan, chairperson of the University of Indonesia Alumni Association, stated that the association supports the students' demand for an end to any social or political role for ABRI.
In Washington on October 3, prominent business figure Christianto Wibisono delivered a paper to a well-publicised academic event, opened by the Indonesian ambassador, Dorodjatun Kuntjorosakti, which called for an end to the ABRI role in civilian political institutions.
On October 4, Indonesia's most prestigious daily newspaper published the results of an opinion poll it had commissioned. According to Kompas, 81% of a 1329 sample stated that they wanted an end to any political role for ABRI.
There was no objection to retired and resigned officers obtaining civilian positions through normal procedures, such as elections.
Pro-ABRI lobby
In the face of increasing attacks, the ABRI leadership is trying to retain control of the debate. The armed forces commander, General Wiranto, has been appearing in the media and at public functions to declare that ABRI is redefining its role.
Wiranto admits that ABRI was used by Suharto. He has emphasised, however, that the dual function must remain and that ABRI cannot be cut off from politics.
This determination is reflected in the new draft law on politics presented to parliament on behalf of the government by General Syarwan Hamid, minister for home affairs, which retains 55 ABRI-appointed members of parliament.
Another sign is the high profile of Wiranto in campaigning for regulation of demonstrations and for an end to protests. However, he has suffered a setback on this issue, being forced to agree in a parliamentary hearing on October 8 that regulation of demonstrations is unnecessary.
The head of the ABRI faction in the parliament, Hari Sabarno, defended the dual function at a seminar organised by the National Mandate Party (PAN), headed by Amien Rais. He argued that the military is needed in the parliament as a mediator between political parties and that any change in its role would take time.
This gradualist approach was supported by Amien Rais. While PAN's platform stated that ABRI should no longer be involved in politics, "We do not want any dramatic or revolutionary change in that".
Right-wing Islamic groups remain the most aggressive campaigners in defence of the dual function. They have placed banners around Jakarta thanking ABRI for smashing the Communist Party in 1965 and accusing student groups, especially FORKOT and the People's Democratic Party (PRD), of being communist.
PRD activists, who reject the accusations, have supported all the recent protests and are at the forefront of popularising the argument that the fundamental role of the military is as "guard dog for capitalism".