Student leaders ponder achievements
Student leaders ponder achievements
JAKARTA (JP): Dozens of anti-establishment student leaders
from the mid-1960s gathered for a nostalgic meeting yesterday,
asking themselves whether, 30 years on, they have accomplished
the tasks that they had set out to do when they took to the
streets.
Members of the Communication and Study Forum of the 1966
Generation (Fosko 66), some of them now very much part of the
establishment, agreed that while there are reasons to be proud,
there are still some deep-seated dissatisfactions in society.
The meeting at the newly-opened Hotel Regent, attended by some
50 exponents of Fosko 66, was to mark the 30th anniversary of the
day when then-President Sukarno signed the historic March 11
Executive Order, giving in to some of the students' demands.
The order, known by Indonesians as Supersemar, empowered
General Soeharto, who was firmly in command of the Army, to take
every necessary measure to restore peace and order in the country
that had been rocked by political upheavals since the abortive
coup attempt in September 1965.
With that order, Gen. Soeharto, with the student movement
behind him, outlawed the Indonesian Communist Party, which had
been blamed for the coup. He also disbanded the cabinet.
March 11 has since been marked as the birth of the New Order,
although Soeharto did not rise to power until the following year.
Some of those student leaders are now serving in President
Soeharto's cabinet or other senior positions in the government.
Others have become successful businesspeople.
Sugeng Saryadi, a member of Fosko 66 and now head of the
business consortium Kodel Group, asked whether the political
tools that have been established under the New Order era are
sufficient to meet present day needs.
Among the political tools he listed is the political system,
including the five-yearly general election. "Can these assets
support the liabilities found in society?" he asked.
The New Order has restored constitutional life in Indonesia
and upholds the supremacy of law. Indonesia has also built its
economic engine, he said.
Many people may not entirely agree with what has been
established, but like it or not, they have to work within the
current framework, he said.
"It may not be perfect but that's life," Sugeng remarked.
Tato Pradjamanggala, a former activist in Bandung, West Java,
maintained that as "proprietors" of the New Order, the 1966
Generation still has a duty to further advance the nation.
He argued that the existing faults found in the current system
cannot be blamed on others. "If there is something wrong, then it
is our fault, too, because we should have corrected it," Tato
remarked.
He noted that the exponents of the '66 Generation have never
clearly defined how they envisioned the economic and political
system and thus urged that an open forum of dialog be done to
specifically delve into these matters.
Tato argued that in the past they had only touched upon the
direction of the New Order with being specific on the actual
course of its implementation, stressing that it was part of their
responsibility to do so.
Another exponent, Bambang Suharto, said that the struggle,
which began 30 years ago, is an on-going task and did not stop
with the establishment of the New Order.
He said the task for everyone now is to ensure a fair and just
development, which benefits all the people.
Bambang, chairman of Kosgoro (a cooperative movement) and a
member of the National Commission on Human Rights, admitted that,
as the years rolled by, the unity of the 1966 Generation had
subsided somewhat, but he maintained that their commitment
towards the goals of the New Order had not.
Sugeng Saryadi also admitted that there is an increasing
division among the members of the 1966 Generation.
He lamented that the exponents are now being judged by their
affiliations to one of the three political groupings.
"How can something like color become such a problem?" he said,
referring to the fact that people connote a person's political
ardor to the color which symbolizes a particular political party,
which is yellow for Golkar, green for the United Development
Party and red for the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).
He called for stronger unity among members of the '66
Generation and underlined that it was this continuing cooperation
which is one of the objectives of the their struggle.
Sugeng, known as a PDI supporter, called for stronger unity
among his colleagues, going so far as to suggest that after the
1997 general election, they should demand for a coalition
government that involves representatives of all three of the
political groups. (mds)