EDWIN GOZAL, one of two Indonesian People's Democratic Party (PRD) representatives to attend the Asia Pacific Solidarity Conference, is the party's Asia Pacific representative. MAX LANE asked him about his impressions of the conference and the PRD's work.
Question: What were the main gains for the progressive movement in Asia flowing from the conference?
The main gain is greater solidarity in Australia with struggles in the region. The conference also provided an opportunity to discuss with many different groups, increasing our ability to learn from others' experiences.
We learn from building solidarity with each other's struggles. We have different political points of view, but the conference gave us a greater understanding about the different dynamics of struggle.
It also proposed concrete actions to strengthen the network. There is some prospect that the struggle against neo-liberalism and imperialism will be strengthened.
Question: Indonesia hosted the 1955 Asia Africa Conference. What has happened to anti-imperialist consciousness in Indonesia today?
Over the last 30 years, anti-imperialism became the national rhetoric among the Indonesian ruling class. While they say, "We must fight against neo-liberalism, imperialism and western culture", in fact they work together with imperialist countries to exploit the people.
Anti-imperialist sentiment has also spread among some narrow-minded groups, which say they are strongly anti-US imperialism on particular issues, as long as it is connected to the Muslim brotherhood. But, they don't care about US intervention in Panama, US support for Indonesia's occupation of East Timor or US military bases in the Philippines.
Others don't have a consistent anti-imperialist line. For instance, some condemn imperialist countries which exploit Indonesia's natural resources, but support the International Monetary Fund's packages to rescue the Suharto dictatorship.
There are only a few groups and figures who consistently argue against imperialism and have a program aimed at defeating it.
The mass of people are still far from an anti-imperialist consciousness. But they have inherited the spirit of the 1945 declaration of independence, a struggle which raised anti-imperialist sentiment. Progressive political organisations have to provide political direction to increase this.
Question: What were the PRD's main aims in attending the conference?
We hope to have convinced more people to support the struggle in Indonesia. The PRD is one of the few organisations which is consistently working to build a strong coalition to bring down the dictatorship.
We also want to build international solidarity and strengthen the pro-democracy struggle in Indonesia and the struggle for self-determination in East Timor.
The economic crisis means that the New Order regime has only one option available to it — escalating the repression to break the movement.
Question: What, in your view, was the most interesting part of the conference?
Every part was interesting, but the plenary sessions on "Overthrowing Suharto and beyond: the struggles in Indonesia and East Timor", " Strategies to defeat neo-liberalism" and the final one, "Countering APEC, defeating neo-liberalism, prospects and projects", were the highlights.
Other stimulating parts were the demonstration in support of the Maritime Union of Australia at Darling Harbour and the night of political solidarity with Dorotea Wilson.
Question: Are there struggles in the region which are relevant to the Indonesian experience?
There's a lot we can learn from the struggles in Malaysia, India and in particular Korea and the Philippines.
The situation in the Philippines before the 1986 EDSA revolution is similar to the situation in Indonesia today. After Aquino was assassinated, the economic crisis fuelled people's discontent. We can learn from the experience of progressive forces in building a strong anti-dictatorship coalition, and from the conflict among that opposition.
We can also learn from their mistakes when, in 1986, they couldn't stop the military and bourgeois opposition from grabbing the leadership of the opposition. The post-Marcos period also contains interesting experiences. For example, how can we maintain the revolutionary struggle under a so-called democratic administration?
From South Korea, we can learn a lot about how to build a strong workers' movement and worker-student alliance. The post-military dictatorship period has also provided us with lessons on how to maintain the struggle against a "civilian" regime which is little better than a military one.
There are also lessons to be learned from a workers' struggle led by trade unions which have illusions in bourgeois politicians.
Question: You were scheduled to speak with East Timorese leaders at the conference. What is the connection between the two struggles?
We have different goals — the East Timorese fight for independence and we fight for democracy. But we have a common enemy and oppressor, so must unite to bring down the dictatorship.
The Indonesian people will not win unless we join the struggle of the East Timorese people for their independence. We are fighting together, in particular with East Timorese youth and students in Indonesia and East Timorese workers in Indonesia.
Question: How relevant to Indonesia is the discussion about Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation treaty?
APEC arose, in part, from a need by Australian imperialism to compete with bigger imperialist forces in the region, in particular Japan. While Indonesia will not benefit from APEC, it likes to grandstand at APEC summits because of Suharto's alliance with the Australian government.
The debate about APEC is relevant, not only to help build the campaign against neo-liberal anti-people initiatives, but also because it opens a discussion, much neglected in Indonesia, about Australian imperialism.
Question: What should be the next steps for regional coordination of the political forces at the conference?
We should set up a strong communication network which can provide us with information about struggles around the region. We should think about another meeting in the next year or two.