McKenzie Wark on Sun, 17 May 1998 17:56:32 +0200 (MET DST) |
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[headers edited] >Testimony of Aryati >At a Hearing of the Committee on International Relations >Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights >United States House of Representatives >May 7, 1998 > > >I come to speak to you here today with some trepidation. Indonesia is not a >free country where one can express criticisms of the government without >worry about the possible consequences upon one's safety. I have no >guarantees of protection: I am not a prominent leader of a mass >organization, nor a member of the elite who has high connections. I am an >Indonesian from a middle class background who is scared about telling you my >honest opinions. >I take this risk because I feel compelled to. I am one of the youths of my >country who will have to bear, for many years into the future, the burden of >what mistakes and crimes the government is committing today. I take this >risk also in the hope that the U.S. government, so long a staunch and >powerful supporter of Suharto's militarism, will reform itself and do >something to ensure that Indonesia does have a government that respects and >guarantees basic civil liberties, such as the freedom of speech, the freedom >of the press, and the freedom of association. >Military >To understand the Suharto government you have to understand the Indonesian >military. We have been living under what is an institutionalized martial law >regime for the past thirty three years. It is no ordinary military. It has >what is officially called a "dual function": external defense and internal >policing. Imagine for a moment that the US military had overthrown the US >government by staging a coup and orchestrating the slaughter of about >500,000 people. Imagine the military then set up headquarters in each state, >each county, each city and each town. Imagine that it placed one third to >one half of the US military's troops in these headquarters. Imagine that >there were no laws governing their actions nor any legislative oversight. >Imagine further that the civilian administration was constantly monitored >and controlled by the military and that many of the civilian administrators >were themselves military officers. If you can imagine this scenario then you >have a pretty good idea of how the Indonesian military operates. It is >ubiquitous, all-pervasive, and beyond the law. >When the US military speaks about training Indonesian military officers to >respect human rights, we can only laugh. The structure of the Indonesian >military places it as an all-powerful institution and the laws of our >country allow it complete freedom to do what it wills. A few courses in good >behavior are not going to alter what it is a very oppressive system of >military rule. Besides, we are not even certain that the US military is >sincere in claiming that it is providing such training. >The US Congress should feel no qualms about cutting off JCET training if it >is thinking about our benefit. Once the JCET training became public >knowledge, the Pentagon claimed that it was meant only for the benefit of US >soldiers who were given the opportunity to see how another military >operates. So, by the Pentagon's own admission, the training was not designed >to help the Indonesian military acquire less brutish habits. >Let me explain how the government instills in us a culture of fear and robs >us of our basic civil rights. In response to the student protests sweeping >the country, the government has decided to intimidate the students by >resorting to the tactic of 'disappearances.' According to the leading legal >aid organization in Indonesia (Yayasan Lembaga Bantuan Hukum Indonesia), >there are fifty persons that have disappeared over the past three months. >One student activist who disappeared is Andi Arief. Military personnel >kidnapped him from his home, in full view of his family, on March 28. The >top generals of our country not only denied that the military had kidnapped >him, they joked to the press that he had simply disappeared of his accord. >For three weeks, his family, his friends, and his fellow students, worried >themselves to the point of exhaustion. Knowing how the military operates, >they were concerned for his very survival. On April 22, he turned up in the >Jakarta central police station. The police had no arrest warrant and no >explanation for how he got there. Andi Arief told his lawyers that he had >been kidnapped by the special forces, Kopassus, held for three weeks of >interrogation, and then dumped at the police station. >One must note that the military did not break the law by kidnapping these >fifty activists because none of the laws of our country apply to the >military. Thus, Andi Arief's parents can not sue Kopassus for arresting >their son without a warrant and holding him in detention without a habeus >corpus. This is precisely what makes ordinary citizens so terrified of the >military: it is unpredictable and unaccountable. >It has been said that one can judge a government by its prisons. Well then, >let us look at Indonesian prisons. There we will find people whose only >crime was to criticize the government. Sri Bintang Pamungkas, the leader of >an independent political party, criticized the government. He is now in >Cipinang prison in Jakarta on charges of subversion. Accompanying him in >that prison are 12 members of the banned People's Democratic Party (PRD) >convicted of thought crimes. In the language of the prosecutors, they >"deviated from the state ideology." >There are presently at least twenty five political prisoners in Indonesia's >prisons, some are in their teens, some in their seventies. Just in the past >three months, 250 people have been arrested on political crimes-such heinous >crimes as holding peaceful meetings and holding peaceful demonstrations. We >have a government that has a pathological fear of any public assembly that >it does not control and any public leader who does not grovel before our >president. Every single independent political party and trade union has been >systematically destroyed by the government. In regions of the country where >there has been serious organized resistance to the government-Irian Jaya, >Aceh, occupied East Timor-it has not has been satisfied with arrests. It has >resorted to massacres. >You can guess what type of society we have. We are a people who are >terrified of expressing our own opinions and terrified of getting involved >in politics of any kind. Politics for us is a spectator sport -- and a cruel >sport it is. We are daily bombarded by the statements of officials who are >barely literate, barely articulate, and barely educated. When faced with >public criticisms, they speak of 'crushing', 'smashing,' and 'hacking.' They >treat the youths of our country, those in their teens and twenties who are >sincerely and peacefully attempting to change this society, as though they >were foreign agents bent on subversion. We are not citizens of a state; we >are subjects of a modern, militarized sultanate. >It is obvious today that Suharto's reign is coming to a miserable end. A >necessary condition for democracy in Indonesia is the ending of Suharto's >presidency. But it is not a sufficient condition. The military, with its >dual function, is prepared to continue Suhartoism without Suharto. What I >mean is that the sources of the systematic human rights abuses we see today >are not going to vanish with the demise of the Suharto presidency. For >genuine democracy to exist in Indonesia, our laws will have to be changed to >embody basic principles of human rights and the military will have to be >confined to the barracks and put under civilian oversight. >Economics >For the past thirty three years we have been told this system of martial law >was necessary for our material benefit. The religion of the government, its >legitimating ideology, has been economic development, what is called in >Indonesian, pembangunan. But what do we have to show for thirty years of >development? Two hundred families have fat Swiss bank accounts while >millions of people have had their land expropriated. A few timber >contractors and palm oil companies have accumulated fortunes while chopping >and burning down most of the rain forest. Thirty years of development has >meant the victimization of many Indonesians. And we have not heard all >their laments precisely because there has been no freedom to criticize what >the state calls its 'development program.' >Thirty plus years of development under martial law has meant the >accumulation of an enormous debt. For thirty years, the United States, Japan >and Europe provided billions of dollars annually as foreign aid to the >Suharto regime. The US government, since Suharto took power in 1965 by >ordering the massacre of thousands of people, has consistently maintained >that his regime provides stability and security. Every single US president >since Nixon, including the present incumbent, has, to their shame, >celebrated the Suharto regime for its economic accomplishments and political >stability. In effect, the US government has said that the Indonesian people >were best kept under the thumb of a sultanate and that democracy was opposed >to our best interests. US academics and retired Foreign Service personnel, >such as those at the US-Indonesia Society here in Washington, have been >saying that Indonesians would just have to sacrifice their political >freedoms for economic growth. The economic crisis of the past nine months >has put paid to these cynical propositions. >Now, after suffering so that development could proceed, what is the prospect >of the Indonesian people under the IMF bailout? In short, we are now >expected to suffer even more to pay off a debt that we did not incur. Thanks >to the Suharto regime's deal with the IMF, all Indonesians have been put >into debt bondage. Our labor and resources are supposed to be devoted to >paying off the debt for the next generation. Meanwhile, those 200 families >who contracted the debt have enough money in their own personal accounts to >pay it off many times over. Is it possible to deny that this current >economic austerity plan by the IMF is a gross injustice? The Indonesian >people never approved of accepting all those loans. We weren't even allowed >to know what the government's economic policy was for all those years. Not >even our farcical showcase parliament was given authority over economic >policy, nor is it given any authority now. But the IMF is telling us that we >have to share the debt burden equally. While it is apparently acceptable to >the IMF that political power is monopolized, it absolutely insists that the >debt be democratically distributed. Those governments that have loaned money >to the Suharto regime and its crony capitalists for the past thirty years >are now supporting the IMF's agreement. Thus, they appear to us like heroin >pushers who, after keeping an addict hooked for years and driving him ever >deeper in debt, throw him back on his family when he is near collapse, >telling them that they have to foot the bill for his rehabilitation and for >all his past debts. >Please do not believe that you are doing us any favors by authorizing money >for the IMF loans to Indonesia. We need democracy in order to settle our >economic problems but that is not a word you will find in the agreement >between Suharto and the IMF. The IMF, with the blessing of the Clinton >administration, is actually hoping to engineer an economic recovery under >the same political conditions of institutionalized martial law. This is, I >assure you, an impossible dream. The protests against the Suharto regime >have by now reached the point of no return. The Indonesian people, now that >they have had the opportunity to express their long supressed grievances >against this regime, are not going to be satisfied until it falls. Democracy >is a rare commodity these days but it is no less vital to us than rice. >It is paradoxical that the IMF is willing to dictate terms to Suharto when >it comes to managing the economy but not when it comes to fundamental >economic rights, such as the right of workers to organize. The IMF refuses >to insist that, as a condition for receiving the loans, the government >recognize workers rights. It calls that meddling in the internal affairs of >Indonesia-when it already controls the government's economic policy. If the >IMF's agreement meddled in such a way as to allow the Indonesian people to >have a greater voice over economic policy then perhaps the US Congress >should support it. But, as it stands, the agreement is a worthless piece of >paper signed by a collapsing dictator. >The IMF money is not going to benefit us. As you know, much of the money >will be simply transferred to foreign banks that made risky loans to the >Indonesian government and Indonesian enterprises. The money will enter >Indonesia for a moment and then get sent back out as debt payments. These >payments are supposed to restore "investor confidence" but one has to wonder >what kind of investors these are who believe in being rewarded for making >bad decisions. It is astonishing that the foreign banks that made risky >loans to a corrupt and unstable economic system want to be repaid in full. >It is even more astonishing that they want the Indonesian people to pay for >their bad decisions. >Look at the tragic conditions Indonesia is now in after thirty years of >US-supported stability and development. Indonesia has an abundance of >fertile land yet we are now begging other countries to give us supplies of >our staple food: rice. The Food and Agricultural Organization estimates that >Indonesia needs to be given 2 million tons of rice for the estimated 7.5 >million Indonesians who will require "food assistance" within the next year. >There is a famine in eastern Indonesia now. We, living in other parts of the >country, hardly hear anything about it and what we do hear are government >whitewashes. We have been told by the Suharto regime and the US government >to exchange our political freedoms for economic prosperity. We have wound up >with neither. >Recommendations >As US Congressmen, you must realize that the only force that the military >appears to feel accountable to is the US government. You greatly determine >whether the Indonesian government receives economic aid from the IMF and >political legitimacy in international forums such as the United Nations. I >can assure you that the Suharto regime, feeling entirely unaccountable to >the Indonesian people, does feel beholden to the US government. It panics on >seeing any sign of displeasure with it here in Washington. >I urge you to listen to more people than just Indonesian government >officials and retired State Department officials. Since the government has >not allowed for any opposition political leaders or parties to exist, it may >seem difficult to know to whom one should listen. I suggest that you listen >to those who have had the determination to sacrifice for their beliefs and >the bravery to risk military violence to assert what they believe to be the >truth. You should listen to people such as Sri Bintang Pamungkas who has >demanded the international community refrain from loaning money and giving >military aid to Indonesia until a democratic regime can be established. You >should especially listen to the youth, such as Pius Lustrilanang, who have >no interests other than those of the nation's. >In conclusion, I would recommend that: >1) The US military not assist the Indonesian military. The US government >should restrict itself to civilian relations with the Suharto regime. >2) The US Congress should not authorize money for the IMF to be loaned to >the Suharto regime. --- # distributed via nettime-l : no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a closed moderated mailinglist for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: majordomo@desk.nl and "info nettime-l" in the msg body # URL: http://www.desk.nl/~nettime/ contact: nettime-owner@desk.nl