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.