Any movement must be conveyed effectively

Any movement must be conveyed effectively

Max Lane, Visiting Fellow, Center for Asia Pacific
Social Transformation Studies, University of Wollongong,
New South Wales, Australia

In the Jakarta Post, on Jan. 27, Juwono Sudarsono is quoted as
stating that there was too much political party involvement in
the wave of recent student demonstrations. "The rallies represent
the goals of different political parties, as they become the tool
to express the rivalry among the political elite." The
involvement of political parties is seen as part of the
explanation as to why the demonstrations over the last few weeks
have remained relatively small.

The Jakarta Post article also quotes student leaders, mainly
from the Student Executive Bodies (BEM), who reaffirmed that they
were interested in replacing the government but that they were at
the same time an independent force, with their own source of
funding.

There is a myth in Indonesian politics that the student
movement has been a powerful factor because it has acted as a
moral force and stayed away from politics. Nothing more could be
further from the truth. All the most powerful student movements
in Indonesia have been directly associated with supporting an
alternative power center that was itself seeking state power.

The largest student movement in the 1960s, before 1965, was
the Indonesian Student Movement Center (CGMI), associated with
the Communist Party of Indonesia. During 1965-1966, the
Indonesian Student Action Front (KAMI) became a powerful force.
KAMI, although it spoke of being a moral force, was directly
backing the Indonesian Armed Forces and the coalition of anti-
communist parties in their seizure of power.

During 1972 and 1973, under the leadership of Arief Budiman --
now a senior academic -- and the poet W.S. Rendra, there was,
briefly, a student movement that genuinely refused to get
involved in the struggle for state power. It remained weak and
was soon eclipsed. By 1973-1974, a new movement emerged, under
the leadership of University of Indonesia student, Hariman
Siregar, that became very powerful.

Its power came from the fact that it combined articulating
genuine aspirations among the poor and the middle classes with a
de facto alliance with an alternative power pole, then centered
around Gen. Sumitro who was advocating a new "pattern of
leadership". That movement was crushed by Soeharto and Hariman
Siregar, the economist Syahrir and the Yogyakarta student leader,
Aini Chalid were all put on trial. Almost 100 others were gaoled
for a year without trial.

In 1978 another wave of student protest flourished briefly.
Its brevity was partly due to the fact that it had no real
allies in the broader political movement. It was quickly crushed
with many students being gaoled and several put on trial.

The student movement of the 1990s, which began with protests
against the Kedung Ombo Dam in Central Java, also reached its
peak of power as it developed an outlook actually aimed at
concretely changing the political situation. In late 1997 and
early 1998, the student movement's perspective became that of
overthrowing Soeharto.

Although the students remained organizationally independent
they too developed a de facto alliance with an alternative state
power, namely the three key elite opposition figures of Megawati
Soekarnoputri, Amien Rais and Abdurrahman Wahid (Gus Dur), In
November 1998, when the student movement was still able to
mobilize tens of thousands of people, the students actually went
to the extent of forcing these three people (plus the Sultan of
Yogyakarta) to meet to discuss how power could be transferred
from the Habibie government to a new government comprising these
figures.

It was precisely when these four refused to adopt the
student's strategy of forcing a transfer of power from Habibie to
an emergency government of some kind and opted for electoral
change, that the student movement went into decline. The student
movement has been in relative decline since November 1998 because
it has no strategy for change, including no vision of who and
what can replace the state power it is now criticizing and
opposing.

The students call is more and more "down with the Megawati-
Hamzah Haz" regime. All the opinion polls also indicate that
President Megawati Soekarnoputri has lost most of her popular
support.

The problem at the moment is that neither the populace at
large nor most of the student movement can explain who might make
up an alternative government and what might their program be.

The student movement needs more politics, not less. Of course,
there are some political parties that are involved in the present
protests. The Peoples Democratic Party (PRD), the small radical
social democratic party, is openly involved. The student
organization, KAMMI, is considered to be very close to the
Islamic Justice Party (Partai Keadilan), which appears to be
still supporting Amien Rais as an alternative presidential
candidate.

The PRD, by itself, does not, at least not yet, represent a
sizable enough force to present itself as an alternative
government, although it can present a comprehensive economic and
political program. KAMMI's politics, while reflecting democratic
demands on immediate and pressing issues, does not have a
credible comprehensive alternative program.

The most interesting development in recent days has been the
formation of the National Coalition. This involves several
prominent student organizations, such as PMII and FAMRED as well
as campus based organizations and the key active independent
trade unions. Human rights and democracy groups, such as
Government Watch and The Committee for Vigilance against the New
Order are also participating. These student, labor and human
rights groups have openly joined with political parties around an
openly declared economic, social and political program to present
themselves as an alternative to the current government. The
political parties involve are the Nationalist Bung Karno Party
(Partai Nasionalis Bung Karno), headed by Eros Jarot; the PRD;
the Pioneer Party (Partai Pelopor) headed by Rachmawati
Soekarnoputri, the Social Democratic Labor Party (Partai Buruh
Sosial Demokrat) headed by Mochtar Pakpahan and the Peoples
Struggle Party (Partai Perjuangan Rakyat) lead by Gustav Dupe.

This is a positive development in that it is attempting to put
unity around an openly declared alternative program at the center
of politics. The calls for the Megawati government be replaced
will be perceived as empty by the public while those advocating a
change cannot explain both who and what new policies will replace
the old government.

Whether the Koalisi Nasional, or any other programmed based
coalition, can truly develop as a popular alternative to the
Megawati government or any other combination of parties coming
from the current parliament will depend on whether this new
program can be explained to the public effectively and rapidly.

If the student movement wants to revive it too must be part of
this process.