BY MAURICE WILLIAMS
A protest movement against government austerity
measures and worsening economic conditions is
developing among students in Indonesia. During the
first two weeks in March, thousands of students
rallied daily across Java and other islands in that
country of more than 200 million people. Some 10,000
students rallied in Yogyakarta March 11 along with
actions six other cities, to protest the swearing-in
of President Suharto.
"When the protests began last month, there were no ties between campuses; schools competed with each other to hold bigger rallies," said an Indonesian student activist. "Now meetings are being held among people from different campuses and with outside [organizations]."
Students stress the solidarity they are attempting to build with peasants and workers. Last October Indonesian students rallied outside the Bulog - the state monopoly that regulates food prices - demanding the resignation of its director and a price freeze on staple foods. A week later 16,000 aerospace workers in Bandung, Indonesia, went on strike and organized rallies protesting threatened layoffs.
The Indonesian rupiah has plunged by about 80 percent against the U.S. dollar since a wave of currency devaluations in the region began last July. Many Asian companies borrowed heavily in dollars and were forced to repay loans with diminishing export earnings. The devalued currency has paralyzed many businesses and inflation has soared, sparking food riots across the country. Some 10 million workers, many of them less than 30 years old, are expected to be jobless this year.
While the demonstrations have focused on the doubling and tripling of food prices, the protesters have begun demanding Suharto resign. During the March 11 rally in Yogyakarta at Gadjah Mada University, students replaced their demands for lower prices with chants of "Down with Suharto!"
That same day Suharto called for workers and peasants to tighten their belts, while at the same time telling them accept the reality that "some of us may lead an affluent life." Taking his oath of office for a seventh five-year term, he told the 1,000 People's Consultative Assembly, "We will never enjoy again an economic growth such as we have experienced for more than the past quarter of a century."
Students have begun to debate the risks of confronting the police and armed forces, and what course of action to take when the military-imposed ban on mass actions ends March 18. Their protests have largely been confined to the campuses.
"The big split is between those who want to take it to the streets, and those who fear this could set off a volcano," one student activist who declined to be identified told the Wall Street Journal. Nurhadi, a student leader at Gadjah Mada University said marching in the streets is "too dangerous," although 40 percent of the students want to protest off the campus.
During a recent demonstration at Indonesian Christian University, a wave of student protesters began marching toward the school's front gate. A panicked university dean grabbed the microphone and shouted, "In these gates, I am responsible for you. Outside, I have no responsibility." On March 16 students at the National University in Jakarta hurled rocks at the police during a protest.
To prepare for these a confrontations, Washington has been training Indonesian soldiers in a special forces commando unit called Kopassus, which has tortured and killed civilians. That commando unit includes the Red Berets trained by the Pentagon, who have been deployed against street protests in Jakarta this year. The Pentagon has also trained Kostrad, an army strategic command group that controls the center of Java and Suharto's presidential guard.
Meanwhile, Jakarta continued defiance at implementing the austerity program demanded by the U.S.-led $43 billion International Monetary Fund (IMF) loan arrangement has sharpened tensions among its imperial masters. "The U.S. and other governments must now start considering seriously how far it is worth propping up a regime that may well be on its way out," chided the editors of London's Financial Times March 12. The big-business daily dubbed the crisis there a "real headache."
Officials from the United States, Japan, Germany, and the IMF have been meeting in Jakarta to pressure the regime into imposing the "basic conditions" of the "bailout package" negotiated last October. The Australian government, however, is demanding its imperialist partners ease some of the requirements attached to the IMF deal. Australian foreign minister Alexander Downer said March 17 that some of the IMF demands would "tear apart Indonesia's social fabric." A spokesman for Downer noted, "We are the developed nation closest to Indonesia, and we stand the most to lose from the crisis."