And ain't i a woman?: Free Raihana Diani!
On November 7, Raihana Diani appeared for the third time in the Banda Aceh court house in Aceh, Indonesia. She is a 20-year-old university student studying to be a teacher. She was arrested on June 16, in the middle of speech to almost 700 women demonstrating in a main street of Banda Aceh against government corruption and poverty.
Among the placards that the demonstrators carried were pictures of Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri with a cross through it. The police charged Diani with insulting the head of state.
Cut Agustina, secretary-general of the Women's Organisation for Democracy in Aceh (ORPAD), has led many of the protests demanding Diani's release. Diani, formerly an activist with Students in Solidarity with Democracy in Indonesia (SMID), was ORPAD's first chairperson in 2002.
"We must fight the government today", Cut explained to Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly. "Almost every decision it has taken has worked against the interests of the people. Fuel prices have risen, telephone charges have risen, electricity rates have risen, the prices of all the basic commodities have risen. Even before these rises, many of these goods were out of reach of the ordinary people in Aceh."
ORPAD has mobilised many women from the market places, in demonstrations over the Peoples Economic Development fund, meant especially for Aceh. A total of 50 billion rupiah (A$10 million) has been allocated but very little has reached the people. Cut said, "It has been enjoyed only by officials and their families".
"A militaristic approach to responding to discontent has been the character of the Megawati government", said Cut. "More and more soldiers have been sent to Aceh. The establishment of a special military command in Aceh has just made things worse. Many farmers are afraid to go to their rice fields, in case they are stopped and accused of being with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) or of supplying them with food. There are kidnappings and torture. The people's houses are burned down, and markets too."
"Raihana has not been treated properly in prison", Cut told GLW. "She has been subjected to psychological terror. Other prisoners have been beaten in front of her; she has been made to hear their screams. She was put in a cell with a leaky roof, so she could not sleep because the floor was flooded. She is prevented from sleeping too by the guards rattling the cells and other things. Her family's safety has been threatened. She was denied sanitary napkins when menstruating."
On October 29, the first day of her trial, 600 people, mainly women, demonstrated outside the court demanding her release. The protest was organised by the Alliance for the Advocacy of Raihana, which brings together more than 10 women's, pro-democracy and student groups. The protesters followed Diani back to her prison, where they forced authorities to let her read a letter to the crowd. This is an abridged version of the letter:
"Today you, sirs, are eating cake while we eat tempe and bad rice, yet we will never kneel before you.
"I write this letter on my 20th birthday, October 28, 2002. Usually people feel happy on their birthday, but I can enjoy no happiness today. I am sad, not because I am having my birthday in Keudah prison, nor because I cannot see my parents, but rather because as I turn 20, I feel I have not been able to do enough for the people, who are now impoverished.
"I see that more and more people are falling into poverty while the freedom to articulate the peoples' aspirations suffers more and more suppression. This is what makes me sad.
"With this letter, I pass on a message to all the poor masses of Aceh and wherever else, continue the struggle, but not to free me, but to free yourselves from oppression under this authoritarian regime. The most genuine democracy is that which is in the hands of the poor.
"We must all understand that an organised and planned resistance by the people can bring the downfall of the Megawati-[vice-president] Hamzah regime, a regime that does not side with the people.
"...I am tired of living in an Indonesia that only oppresses. Let me come across bearing the sweet aroma of the red rose into the lap of poor masses of Aceh. I bow my head before the poor and I raise my head up high to face the regime and say: FREEDOM instead of POVERTY!"
Raihana Diani is an inspiration to all women fighting for justice and freedom. To find out more about the struggle in Aceh, or to help with the solidarity campaign, visit .
From Â鶹´«Ã½ Weekly, November 20, 2002.
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