Working for change from within<\/p>\n
M. Taufiqurrahman, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
An expression encapsulates the transformation of the former
\nleader of a radical student movement, Budiman Sudjatmiko: The
\nonly security human beings have is their ability to change.<\/p>\n
Once a leader who took the helm of a mass movement that was
\naimed at bringing down the government, Budiman now works from
\nwithin the system, believing that he can make more of a
\ndifference by becoming part of the establishment.<\/p>\n
He was at one time a student who dropped out of college to
\norganize laborers and peasants in impoverished parts of Java to
\nrebel against their employers or landlords. Budiman is now a
\nmember of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI-P), the second-
\nlargest party in the House of Representatives.<\/p>\n
An organization he chairs, Volunteers to Defend Democracy
\n(Repdem), was declared a youth wing organization of PDI-P in the
\nparty's congress in Bali, in December last year.<\/p>\n
He now also holds the position of executive director of the
\nnewly established think thank, ResPublica Institute, whose
\nmission is to deliver analytical and qualitative assessments on
\nstrategic policy making in technology policy, international
\nrelations and political economy.<\/p>\n
With such a plethora of technical terms, one can imagine how
\nmuch Budiman has changed.<\/p>\n
Such a change was probably unthinkable in the latter half of
\n1996 when he was declared public enemy number one by the
\nauthoritarian regime of president Soeharto.<\/p>\n
Then chief of the Jakarta Military Command Sutiyoso, on orders
\nfrom his superior, issued shoot-on-sight instructions to members
\nof the Indonesian Military (TNI) and the National Police with
\nrespect to Budiman and his collaborators.<\/p>\n
This was on account of their alleged involvement in the July
\n27 riot, the first major conflagration during the Soeharto era,
\nwhich also heralded the downfall of the regime, two years later.<\/p>\n
Budiman was put on a wanted-persons list for his activities,
\nwhich were deemed by the militaristic regime as undermining the
\nstate ideology and inciting students and workers to demonstrate
\nagainst the government.<\/p>\n
The 27 July riot, which Budiman said was an aborted and
\nhijacked mass event, represented the pinnacle of his longtime
\nengagement with the country's small and clandestine, yet robust,
\nradical movement, which consolidated itself at the height of
\nSoeharto's autocratic rule.<\/p>\n
In his early twenties, Budiman and a small number of activists
\nengaged in mobilizing laborers and peasants in rural Java to take
\na stand against perceived injustices.<\/p>\n
The motivation to rally the poor emanated from his conviction
\nthat a student movement would be fruitless without having any
\nlinkage with the power of the masses, poor peasants and workers
\nin particular.<\/p>\n
Budiman and his fellow activists embarked on a dangerous
\nmission, as the Soeharto regime was at the height of its powers,
\nresorting to violent means to crush any opposition without
\nhesitation.<\/p>\n
Many would point to the mysterious death of woman labor
\nactivist Marsinah as an indication of how ruthless the regime was
\nwhen it came to dealing with popular movements.<\/p>\n
Budiman was apprehended several times by the military but
\nsomehow escaped prosecution.<\/p>\n
His years of grassroots activism became the first
\nconsideration by members of the newly established Democratic
\nPeople's Party (PRD) when they elected him as leader in June
\n1996.<\/p>\n
The PRD was a small political party conceived by a network of
\nyoung activists to sow the seeds of reform within a country under
\nrepression.<\/p>\n
In reality, what the party demanded was nothing radical when
\nviewed from the vantage point of a democratic system, but the
\nitems were considered taboo by the Soeharto regime.<\/p>\n
PRD demanded a multiparty political system, a referendum for
\nthen-occupied East Timor, a dialog to find a peaceful solution
\nfor armed insurgency in Aceh and the phasing out of the TNI dual
\nfunction -- all of which was later realized in the reform era.<\/p>\n
To press its demands, PRD aligned itself with the PDI-P, then
\nled by Megawati Soekarnoputri, daughter of the country's
\ncharismatic first president, Sukarno.<\/p>\n
When Megawati was toppled from the leadership by the Soeharto
\nregime -- a move that made her the country's first credible
\nopposition leader -- the PRD stood in her defense and staged a
\nmass rally to stand against the ouster.<\/p>\n
Budiman delivered firebrand speeches at a mass protest
\norganized at the PDI-P office in Jl. Diponegoro, Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
When an orchestrated attack against the protest took place,
\nfollowed with widespread rioting in the capital, PRD, with its
\nprogressive political platform, was the perfect scapegoat for the
\nincident.<\/p>\n
Budiman and the PRD top brass were declared the offspring of a
\ndormant communist movement that intended to destabilize the
\ncountry -- one of the most damaging smears perpetrated by the
\nregime -- and a nationwide manhunt was mounted against them.<\/p>\n
"As ordinary human beings, we were totally scared but were
\nready to face the direst consequence -- death," Budiman told The
\nJakarta Post in a recent interview at a cafe near his ResPublica
\noffice in Kemang, South Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Later, Budiman eluded death when he was arrested by plain-
\nclothed members of the military at his hideout in Bekasi. After
\nmonths of interrogation, Budiman was taken to court and given a
\n13-year jail sentence for subversion in April 1997.<\/p>\n
This proved to be a blessing in disguise for the native of
\nCilacap, Central Java.<\/p>\n
"During the time I was on the run and serving my time in
\nprison, the party leadership passed to student activist Andi
\nArif. In the lead-up to Soeharto's resignation in May 1998, Andi
\nbecame the number-one target of a kidnapping plot from elements
\nin the military. It could have been me, if I had not been in
\nprison," he said.<\/p>\n
Some prodemocracy activists who were kidnapped in the plot
\nhave still not returned home.<\/p>\n
Budiman was released from Cipinang penitentiary -- where he
\nbefriended Timor L'este independence fighter, now president,
\nXanana Gusmao -- after the administration of president
\nAbdurrahman "Gus Dur" Wahid granted him amnesty in December 1999.<\/p>\n
With some of his political demands becoming a reality, Budiman
\nleft the PRD in 2001, planning to pursue higher education abroad.<\/p>\n
He applied for a scholarship for an undergraduate degree in
\nthe UK, but his guarantors gave the go-ahead for him to pursue a
\nmaster's degree.<\/p>\n
With little fanfare, Budiman left the country in 2002 and
\nenrolled at the Leeds-based School of Oriental and African
\nStudies (to study political economy) and Cambridge University
\n(where he studied international relations). He returned to the
\ncountry in early 2004.<\/p>\n
After years of living on a roller coaster, Budiman decided the
\ntime was high for him to focus on his personal life. He tied the
\nknot with a girlfriend he'd been seeing since April 2004.<\/p>\n
"The union materialized only after a roadmap for my future had
\nbecome more certain," Budiman said, while taking a last sip of
\ncappuccino.<\/p>",
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