NGOs' frustrations goes public

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