Introduction
The following discussion was written based on
interviews conducted by Jurnal Bersatu (Journal of
Unity) editorial staff with a number of people’s
organisations. The spectrum and “political
groupings” along with the sectors and class of
organisation were several of the considerations in
the choice of the groups that were interviewed.
Nevertheless there were two organisations – the
People’s Movement Alliance for Agrarian Reform
(AGRA) and the United People’s Party (PPR) who on
the eve of the publication of this journal were
unable to be interviewed.
Urban and rural poor organisations
Marlo, General Chairperson Indonesian Poor People’s
Union (SRMI)
In economic terms, the impact of 10 years of
reformasi on poor communities has brought absolutely
no benefits. By way of example, many small-scale
enterprises were bankrupted after being hit by the
[economic] crisis. In political terms, although it
has not been very significant, there has been change
in the form of opening up democratic space that has
been relatively beneficial for the people’s
movement.
Strategic issues
The strategic issue at present is neoliberalism,
which results in the privatisation or selling off
state owned companies to foreigners. This
privatisation is involving vital assets such as
hospitals, which are a basic necessity for the
people. This hurts the people because it results in
high prices.
The current state of the poor people’s movement
Currently there are many people who practice and
study Marxist ideologies, including figures who
originate from Indonesia, such as Indonesia’s
founding President Sukarno. But the people’s
movement at the moment is becoming increasingly
fragmented.
People’s movement unity
At the moment, the people’s movement – including
within this the urban poor movement – is fragmented
and difficult to unite. The unity that once existed
was only on paper or limited to momentum such as the
momentum of the election or regional heads or
because of the existence of a particular issue, but
it has never reach the strategic level. This
fragmentation could have a bad impact on the growth
of the movement itself in the future.
The obstacles to movement unity are not because
there are problems in the programs or aims of the
respective organisations, but because first, the
individual organisations perhaps have their own
respective hidden agendas that are not revealed
openly. Secondly, within the urban poor sector
movement, there are indeed few urban poor
organisations and they are local in character.
Aims of the struggle
The aim of the SRMI’s struggle is a social order
that is truly democratic, just, clean and populist.
In a society such as this, the state would side with
the people, not like the neoliberal state at the
moment, which if seen from its policies, is very
anti-poor.
Political parties
The aim of the people’s movement is to take power.
In the current era of democracy, one of the means to
do this is through a political party. So building a
party is one of the forms of the struggle. But it
can also be by participating in or supporting
parties that concretely, have a clear and credible
program, and takes correct positions. The SRMI
itself is involved in supporting the building of
Papernas. There is a need for the building of this
party to be carried out jointly by the movements
that have grown out of the reformasi era and have
the same vision and enemies, because it will be
difficult for them to carry it out individually.
2OO9 elections
We must respond to the 2009 general elections,
because taking part will determine the advance or
retreat of the people’s movement as well as the
Indonesian nation. In the 2009 elections, the
Indonesian people should support the parties and
candidates that side with the people, who are
competent, have good values, a high level of
commitment, clear programs and not bad individuals,
such as those who are corrupt or committed human
rights violations. Here, the people must be sharp,
don’t be lied to and don’t elect a president or
party that is not prepared to undertake a political
contract. With regard to activists that have joined
the big political paries, this is happening because
at the moment, they have left their previous
organisations, so that they are acting based on
their own ideas. We could control them jointly and
if necessary, we could supply them with materials in
order that they understand the problems that are
occurring and the grassroots level or the people’s
movement.