Indonesian expats are vigorously defending their homeland’s democracy
Duncan Graham
The Republic’s birth was fortified in 1945 by teens with bamboo spears fighting the return of Dutch colonialists backed by British tanks grinding through Surabaya gang (alleys). Now thousands of students are opposing the return to last century’s military rule by their own government.
The unarmed protestors in Indonesia are allegedly being bashed and arrested in their quest to preserve the political culture formed at the start of this century. If they lose, Indonesia could turn into another authoritarian state alongside near neighbours Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar.
After just 100 days into his five-year term, President Prabowo Subianto forced his party members to parade in army fatigues. They nervously obliged. As citizens elected to the Republic’s highest chamber of authority, they should have refused. Watching videos and stills of the ‘retreat’ shows participants looking embarrassed – most certainly ill at ease. Many seemed to recognise (too late) their authority was being crushed but didn’t know how to respond other than to take selfies. A law giving the military more control over civilian affairs was passed in late March following a private session in a luxury hotel.
Melbourne bergerak
The student-led protests across Indonesia labelled Indonesia Gelap (Dark Indonesia), have sparked demonstrations in London, Toronto and parts of the US - but the headquarters of this diaspora-led movement is in Melbourne. This Melbourne-based group, Melbourne Bergerak (Melbourne Moves), is a collective of students and expatriates. Its members are highly active, holding protests, making speeches, talking to journalists and pamphleteering on rising militarism, climate change, police brutality and other disturbing social issues plaguing their homeland.
One of the key organisers, Ulya Niami Jamson (Pipin), 37, is a charismatic academic and seasoned activist from Central Java. She’s now a PhD candidate at Melbourne University and a member of Muhammadiyah, the conservative modern wing of Indonesian Islam that attracts the higher educated.
Australians know Bali, but little of the other 17,000 islands in the archipelago. Consequently she’s trying to stir her host's support. ‘The reform and democracy of the Indonesian people, achieved through blood and tears 80 years ago are threatened under Prabowo's reign. These are dangerous times,’ she told me. ‘Democracy is at risk through militaristic, masculine and paternalistic leadership.’ One poll shows more than 70 per cent of the electorate fears the military’s return.
Prabowo, a former general with an alarming human rights record, fled to Jordan during the 1998 revolution. Now 73, he’s in the role he always craved – running the world's fourth-largest nation. He won last year’s poll against a provincial governor and an academic. Prabowo fooled voters as a cuddly dancing grandpa determined to feed 85 million school children with a free lunch program aimed to prevent stunting.
The cost for this worthy but poorly planned program has blown out so badly that education and health budgets are being plundered and public servants forced to work without resources to help fill the fiscal void. Markets fear instability. The rupiah has fallen along with investor confidence. Indonesia is the second biggest debtor (after India) to the World Bank.
Much of the electorate was born this century, so they know little of the 32-year ruthless reign of second President Suharto, a former general, alleged outrageous kleptocrat ($34 billion) and Prabowo's ex-father-in-law.
Fresh voters were also drawn to the vice-presidential candidate, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, the son of Prabowo’s predecessor, seventh President Joko ‘Jokowi’ Widodo. Gibran was constitutionally too young for the job, but that hitch was fixed by Chief Justice Anwar Usman–Gibran’s uncle. Indonesian cynics claim their nation suffers from KKN – Korupsi, Kolusi and Nepotisme (Corruption, Collusion and Nepotism).
Since his election, Gibran has been parked aside to promote skin care creams. His older boss (by 36 years) is handling the serious stuff, following the Trump blame manual. He warned his Gerindra (Greater Indonesia) party ‘to be on guard against foreign forces seeking to incite trouble and sow disunity. NGOs and the mass media are financed by foreign parties to influence public opinion.’ Naturally no names were mentioned, but his term antek asing (lackies or stooges) has reportedly been getting traction on social media.
Professor Vedi Hadiz from the University of Melbourne praised Pipin’s ‘moral movement, activism and sincerity’ but warned that ‘without the backing of a big party, or guns and business,’ she and the movement would have limited success:
‘The situation is deteriorating, but still not as bad as krismon (the 1998 economic crisis that led to Soeharto’s downfall).
The rupiah crashed from 2400 to 16,000 to the dollar. Businesses and banks suffered. So did the middle classes. All took to the streets and helped create a critical mass.’
Pipin’s late father was a judge, and she attributes much of her sense of justice and individual rights to his putting state ahead of self. Although bristling with confidence in public, privately she considers herself an outsider and vulnerable. Her Facebook account has been hacked; the present Indonesian administration is hostile towards dissenters.
‘I would make the same comments in Indonesia that I’m voicing in Australia, but have to steer a line between paranoia and being careful,’ she said. ‘When I return to Indonesia I expect support from my campus (the prestigious public Gadjah Mada University).’
That won’t be till 2026 when the next rector may well be a Prabowo-appointed general enforcing harsh rules against opponents.
Author and activist Dr Max Lane, whose translations into English of Pramoedya Ananta Toer’s novels helped bring the Indonesian writer's work to world attention, said he was optimistic that the spirit of reform remained. ‘It will be led by unions and students like Pipin, not academics,’ he said.
As a mother, she’s less likely to be treated as troublesome by the current misogynist leadership. That would be a mistake. Apart from being a scholar/stirrer she's also a pesindhen (traditional singer), a percussionist in a band, and works in catering to meet living costs.
‘I’m humble and always open to other opinions, but it seems I’m being picked as a leader. If I’ve been gifted with these talents, I have a responsibility to use them.’
Duncan Graham (wordstars@hotmail.com) is an Australian journalist living in East Java. His blog can be found at www.indonesianow.blogspot.com.
