A sacrifice in July: Survivors and Megawati

A sacrifice in July: Survivors and Megawati

Kornelius Purba, Staff Writer, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta,
korpur@yahoo.com

Black Saturday. An elderly woman stood outside the office of
the Institute of Legal Aid (LBH) on Saturday afternoon, July 27,
1996. She seemed oblivious to the presence of heavily armed anti
riot troops, along Jl. Diponegoro in Central Jakarta. She closely
watched dozens of young people on the street ready to fight the
soldiers.

The woman said she was searching for her son who had joined
the free speech forums at the headquarters of the Indonesian
Democratic Party (PDI) located just a few hundreds meters from
the LBH office. Her son had not returned home after military-
backed toughs attacked the headquarters to disperse the forum,
which had been going for several days, earlier in the morning.

"I really fear for his safety, although he is a brave boy,"
said the woman, who described her son as a fanatic supporter of
Megawati Soekarnoputri.

Hopefully a happy reunion took place. Several people were
killed and still "missing" after security forces violently
dispersed Megawati's supporters. These people were bravely
protesting the June ouster of Megawati as Indonesian Democratic
Party (PDI) chairwoman after holding the post for three years.
Among the military officers who proudly executed the order of
then president Soeharto to finish Megawati's political career was
Maj. Gen. Sutiyoso, at the time he was the Jakarta Military
commander.

CNN intensively reported the attack despite military attempts
to seize its TV camera. The world was shocked and many compared
the bloody incident with the Tiananmen Square tragedy in China.
Megawati's fame skyrocketed worldwide. Who would not sympathize
with Megawati, an innocent victim of military cruelty? Wasn't it
enough for Soeharto to keep her father Sukarno under virtual
house arrest until his death after toppling him down? Megawati,
to many was a nice housewife, and fast becoming the mother of the
nation.

During that Black Saturday Megawati stayed at her residence in
Kebagusan, South Jakarta to monitor the situation. She kept her
distance from the supporters, apparently on the request of her
advisors. Jakarta was tense at that time, people were burning
buildings along the long roads such as Jl. Salemba Raya and Jl.
Kramat Raya. Some of the debris remains -- and if the ruins could
speak they could also share their testimonies.

Soeharto picked Soerjadi, who ironically was the one that
persuaded Megawati and her husband Taufik Kiemas to join PDI in
1986, to replace the daughter of former president Sukarno as the
party's leader.

Many people were ready to sacrifice their life for Megawati.
Soeharto and the military quickly pointed their fingers at the
People's Democratic Party (PRD) as one of the most responsible
for the violence. Its chairman Budiman Sudjatmiko was jailed and
the PRD was banned and branded as a communist organization.

Megawati filed more than 300 lawsuits against the government's
decision to oust her from PDI. Then the economic crisis hit the
country in July 1997. In May 1998, Soeharto ended his 32-year
dictatorship.

Megawati and her supporters then changed the name of PDI into
PDI Perjuangan (Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle). In the
1999 general elections, the party garnered nearly 40 percent of
the votes (over 10 percent more than second place Golkar) and it
appeared that she would naturally be elected president, however
it was not until July 23 last year that she was able to satisfy
her presidential ambition.

Since then she has clearly continued to distance herself from
the July 27 rampage. She avoided timing her victory acceptance
speech on that date, instead doing it on July 29, where she made
many promises for reform, law enforcement and a better economy.
But little attention was given to the July 27 tragedy in her
speech.

The Jakarta Post reported how Megawati broke down in tears
when she promised to stop the violence in Aceh province.

"When Cut Nya' (female leader) leads the country, I will not
let a single drop of blood touch the Aceh soil," Megawati said,
referring to herself in Acehnese.

"I will give all my love and your Arun so that Acehnese can
enjoy how beautiful their soil is," she said referring to the
Aceh natural gas field which is one of the largest in the world.

Just a few weeks ago, Megawati gave the green light for the
military to continue their military operations to conquer the
rebellious province. The military may feel they are much freer in
Aceh now, much like what they experienced under Soeharto's
regime.

And what has she done to her supporters who demanded that
Megawati thoroughly investigate the July 27 tragedy? Megawati
reportedly told them she never had asked them to fight for her.
She is not only reluctant to touch upon the incident, on the
contrary, she has enthusiastically backed the reelection of
Governor Sutiyoso despite his key role in the fatal violence.

It is hard to determine Megawati's real feelings about the
July 27 tragedy. Does she somehow believe she is being like
legendary South African statesman Nelson Mandela, who eventually
forgave the apartheid regime who had jailed him for decades?

Or perhaps, is she charmed by East Timor's leader Xanana
Gusmao, who is trying to put aside the Indonesian military
brutality against his people during its occupation in East Timor?
Xanana was jailed by Soeharto. Megawati may forget that the
international community continues to pressure Indonesia over its
gross human rights violations in East Timor on behalf of Xanana.
But who will remember the July 27 victims?

Finding the truth behind the tragedy does not mean people want
to reopen old wounds. But people want justice. How can they
expect Megawati to uphold the law for the country if she refuses
to even defend the very people who sacrificed their blood and
life for her?

World-class writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer writes in his memoir,
Nyanyi Sunyi Seorang Bisu (The Mute's Soliloquy) about his
experience as a detainee who tried to speak for voiceless
Indonesians.

"Am I no longer worthy of being an Indonesian or an Indonesian
citizen? Was my contribution to national freedom insignificant, a
complete waste of time? Were the people of Indonesia willing to
recognize me as a fellow citizen, one with full civil rights?"

Survivors of July 27 may also be wondering whether their
sacrifice was a waste of time.