[The following is slightly abridged from a statement issued by the People's Democratic Party (PRD) after the resignation of Suharto.]
President Suharto has resigned, but the Suharto regime is still in power.
Because of pressure from the masses, political figures and mass organisations, Suharto resigned, but the Suharto regime has not ended.
The appointment of B.J. Habibie as his replacement is still far from democracy and is no less than maintaining the regime.
His resignation was intended to cool the anger of the people. If he had refused to resign, the hatred of the people would have increased and been the trigger for even more people to spill into the streets. If the masses had continued to mobilise, it would not only have been the presidency that was lost, but also the system of the New Order government, his family's businesses and even his and his cronies' physical safety.
Suharto is the puppeteer, Habibie the puppet. Suharto will continue to control things from behind the scenes. Habibie can be used to manipulate the Islamic community.
Suharto once again has violated democracy, where the president must be determined by the People's Consultative Assembly [MPR], which is itself also a puppet, not elected. But choosing a loyal replacement through a special session of the MPR is uncertain, because the MPR can choose someone he does not want, although they would still be from the New Order.
Morally, Suharto does not need people who are clean; what is important is that he can control them. Habibie is no different from Suharto. Remember he is also a capitalist crony who owns many family businesses.
Furthermore, the military guaranteed to protect Suharto. This indicates that the Suharto clique is still solid and fully under his control. The huge demonstrations pushed a number of Suharto's supporters to demand that he step down. But Suharto's power is still intact.
The regime has no legitimacy in the eyes of the people. They [the regime] are aware of this, which is why they retreated. They are looking for an opportunity to counterattack against the democratic movement. When will it be done? When people's anger has subsided. Suharto's military miscalculated when they shot dead six students at Trisakti University. Suharto wants to avoid this.
General Wiranto also indicated his loyalty to the ex-president and Habibie. Unfortunately, there are still pro-democracy activists who dream that the military will support change. There are even those who are so naive they believe that there will be no change without military support.
The battle on May 14, at the very least, pushed through change without military help. While the military are still solid, do we still hope that they will support change?
Compared to the corrupt and boot licking officials such as Harmoko [parliamentary speaker] and Abdul Latief [who recently resigned as minister of labour], the military is far more conservative, more "anti-change". Harmoko and Abdul Latief could be pressured to push Suharto to step down. But the military — except for those officers who are outside of Suharto's control — are robots.
The appointment of Habibie as president must not lessen the struggle. There is no indication that Suharto or the New Order has begun to carry out reform. What has been done is to check the demands for reform, to give the illusion that the masses have calmed down.
The mass demands have yet to be fulfilled:
1. withdrawal of the 1985 five repressive political laws; 2. abolishing the dual role of the military; 3. the accountability and trial of Suharto; 4. nationalisation of Suharto's and cronies' companies; 5. nationalisation of the wealth produced by corruption; 6. holding new elections which are multiparty, free and democratic; 7. freeing of all political prisoners.
Don't let the appointment of Habibie manipulate the people's consciousness. Total reform, not half-hearted reform! And the road to total reform must be fully controlled by the people, so that it is not corrupted. Whoever carries it out, a people's council (by whatever name) must be formed by the people, not the regime.
[Translated by James Balowski.]