Indonesia ignites

Max Lane and Don Rocinante report:

15 people were killed and more than 300 seriously injured after attacks by the Indonesian military on last month's popular demonstrations. The protests were against the so-called People's Consultative Assembly, which rubber-stamped decrees confirming the continuation of the Habibie regime and the ongoing domination of the military over politics.

The Assembly, mostly comprising government appointees, approved the appointment of 55 military officers to the Indonesian parliament and a continuation of Habibie's presidency until at least December 1999. The army's structure, reaching into every village, remained untouched.

An appeal from moderate opposition leaders for an independent election committee was ignored: elections will be organised by the present military-backed regime.

This body of Suharto-Habibie placemen was able to meet only because of the presence of 30,000 troops mobilised to prevent the parliament building from being occupied by more than 500,000 protesters. Such mobilisations show a new level of unity based on a new alliance (AKRAB), which brought together all the major groups of students, workers, urban poor and democratic activists.

Unlike the May mobilisations, this time students moved through workers' neighbourhoods and encouraged people to join the demonstrations. Residents along the routes offered drinks, food and donations. As numbers grew to 500,000, marshals were assigned to protect shops owned by Indonesian-Chinese, as well as banks. One lane was kept open so traffic could pass. During the huge mobilisations, there was almost no damage to property - so much for press reports about anarchy.

It was in fact the army that sent several thousand paid thugs, armed with sharpened bamboo sticks, into action against the demonstrators. Pitched battles ensued culminating in the army's indiscriminate firing and killing. The true colours of Indonesia's "transitional" regime were revealed to the world. q

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