NGOs' frustrations goes public

In recent months there have been street demonstrations across the country addressing a variety of political issues. What do they signify and why do they occur? Sociologist Kastorius Sinaga grapples with these questions.

JAKARTA (JP): Unlike in other countries, democratization in Indonesia is often triggered by NGOs, not by political parties.

This is true for the ongoing protests launched by supporters of the embattled chief of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI), Megawati Soekarnoputri.

The protests show that PDI cadres lack the ability to mobilize people onto the streets. On the other hand, NGO activists, especially those from Students Solidarity for a Democratic Indonesia (SMID), Pijar and the Democratic People's Party (PRD), have been instrumental in mobilizing Megawati supporters to demonstrate. The demonstrations culminated in the Gambir incident last month.

This has led Armed Forces Commander Gen. Feisal Tanjung to comment that the PDI protests have been infiltrated by a "third party", meaning pro-democracy NGOs.

The recent labor demonstration in Surabaya is another example. The three who led the demonstration, which involved thousands of laborers, were not suppressed workers but educated middle-class activists of PRD, an NGO of progressive students and intellectuals from various universities. The three have been detained and charged with disrupting political stability.

NGO activists have played a vital role in the birth of independent institutions like the Independent Election Monitoring Committee (KIPP), the Indonesian Democratic Union Party (PUDI) and mass organizations like the New Masyumi and the Indonesian People's Assembly (MARI).

And NGOs in Indonesia are becoming more radical. This indicates that NGOs have changed their agenda from initiators of alternative development and environmental pioneering to become a progressive political force based on mass and moral strength.

What factors are behind the "radicalization" of NGOs in Indonesia?

The answer lies in NGOs' changing internal dynamics and a political atmosphere which is increasingly repressive.

Unlike the 1970s generation of NGO activists which comprised mostly social workers, 1990s' activists are mainly urban and middle class. They are often students supported by progressive intellectuals with deep political concern and awareness. Or the activists are people, such as labor leaders, farmers or journalists who have been victims of government officials' autocratic behavior.

Their progressive political outlook has grown into radical political behavior based on their convictions that various micro social and economic problems like poverty, evictions and labor exploitation are part of a macro political problem. They believe these can only be solved through radical political change.

In their struggle they risk danger at the hands of security personnel and they get deeply disillusioned. They believe that only democracy will change the political situation. And it is their widespread conviction that democracy is something that must be seized, not something that is begged from the government.

New information technology, notably facsimile machines and the Internet, has facilitated the flow of news and ideas among them and pro-democracy groups abroad.

The government's response to the NGOs' rapid change is conservative and has failed to tackle the roots of the problem. Charging NGO activities as new leftists or calling NGOs formless organizations and non-patriotic are outdated reactions which fail to address the social conditions questioned by the NGOs.

This will only widen the political distance between NGOs and the government and further push NGO activists to forge a coalition with various parties which have been disappointed by government policies.

The radicalization of NGOs in Indonesia is caused by two factors: the widespread disappointment and frustration of an educated middle class which is concerned about the fate of the poor, the victims of development; and the increasingly violent behavior of some public officials.

The radicalization of NGOs, sooner or later, may contribute to political instability, especially because the democratic infrastructure, like the House of Representatives, mass media and political parties, which people use to express their aspirations fail to function properly because of political pressure from those in power.

The writer is a lecturer in social sciences for postgraduate studies at the University of Indonesia