Activists behind the establishment of New Order
Activists behind the establishment of New Order
By Hartoyo Pratiknyo
JAKARTA (JP): Like heroes in old Western movies they came when
they were needed and quietly disappeared after the job was done.
They are the young men and women activists of a generation now
known as the Generation of '66.
Some of them have risen to positions of prominence in either
business or government. Others have remained quietly in the
background. Still others were destined for an early demise -- too
early to witness the fruits of their pain: A better Indonesia
under a New Order. Although many of them have since died or
stepped from the public limelight, their names will continue to
be remembered, at least in Indonesian history textbooks if not in
daily life.
The circumstances which placed them in contemporary Indonesian
history were unique. Indonesia was under the rule of an
authoritarian regime which left little room for democratic
debate. The country's foreign policy was rapidly swinging out of
its non-aligned stance and into the orbit of what was then known
as the Socialist Bloc, led by the Soviet Union and China.
Economically Indonesia was on the brink of collapse. Inflation
was over 600 percent and the country was heavily indebted, due
primarily to heavy state spending on prestige projects. Price
levels escalated by the day, and businessmen found it impossible
to make sane budget projections. Clearly, swift action had to be
taken if the downslide was to be halted.
Then the third most powerful communist party in the world
after those of China and the Soviet Union attempted a coup
d'etat. It miscarried. The Armed Forces, under a determined,
quick-thinking lieutenant general named Soeharto, swiftly moved
to crush whatever support the conspirators were able to rally.
One obstacle to finishing the job quickly was the charismatic
but unyielding President Sukarno. His support for the Indonesian
Communist Party undermined the establishment of a new political
and economic order. An political order dedicated to establishing
a more open political climate to look after the people's needs
and restore the ideological groundwork of the Republic.
The political tug-of-war that resulted between President
Sukarno's "Old Order" regime and the proponents of change could
not be allowed to drag lest the momentum for renewal would have
been lost.
The circumstances led to the birth of "actions fronts" in 1966
and 1967. They were spearheaded by the Indonesian Students Action
Front (KAMI). As an alliance of militant university student
organizations, KAMI was soon joined by actions fronts of
academics, high school students, women and many others.
In the absence of an acceptable elected legislature, the
action fronts became the "parliament of the streets". Thousands
of students, youths, workers, women and scholars marched through
Jakarta's streets to protest the instigators of the coup and
Sukarno's persistent refusal to ban the Communist Party.
Their Tritura slogan -- the three demands of a ban on the
Communist Party, lower prices and disbanding the cabinet --
became a motto heard throughout the city.
Cosmas Batubara, the leader of KAMI, is one former activist
who rose to prominence. He eventually became a member of the
House of Representatives and was a cabinet minister twice. Others
include Mar'ie Mohammad, a KAMI presidium who is now Minister of
Finance; Liem Bian Koen (Sofyan Wanandi), now a prominent
businessman in the Gemala Group; Ismid Hadad, a journalist at the
Harian KAMI daily newspaper and now a top company executive; Nono
Anwar Makarim, a KAMI presidium who is now a corporate lawyer;
Arief Rachman, a KAMI activist turned educator, and many more.
Thirty years have passed since the troubles of the 1960s sent
the ideal youths into the streets. To what degree their ideals
have been attained is a question only they can answer.