An Indonesian "Socialist Alliance"?

["Tom O'Lincoln" <suarsos@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

[I have just received and translated this. It provides some information on
what sections of the left are doing. Here it is without comment. If a
discussion arises, I might post again with my own views. Hamzah is the Vice
President.]

People?s Democratic Party
Political Statement:

The 2004 General Elections Will Not Produce a Government that Cares for the
Poor

The 2003 elections will not lead to an administration that sides with the
needs of the majority of poor people in Indonesia. As in the case of the
1999 elections, the poll in 2004 will produce a government that immiserates
the people, sells off the people?s assets cheaply, and slavishly serves the
needs of imperialism. If the people study the laws that will govern the
2004 election, they will see that it is tool to steal back from us the
democratic victories attained in struggle since 1998. There is no other
road for the people except organising to push aside all the political
elites which have so long stolen democracy from the people.

The people now need to act to replace all the government machinery that
till now has operated as the hands-and-feet [i.e. puppets - TOL] of foreign
colonisers. The robbery of the fruits of the people?s labour through
privatisation, fire sales of public assets to the imperialists of the
advanced countries, has to be stopped and reversed. Clearly the government
of Megawati-Hamzah now in power will never fight for that, and neither any
other government that comes out of the 2004 elections. Without structures
of people?s power which is willing to oppose the desires of the US
imperialists and their allies, the impoverishment of the people will
continue as will the destruction of the productive capabilities of the
peasants, while low pay and the contract labour system continue to harm the
workers.

Actually the people don?t need the 2004 elections, if the people acts now
to replace Mega and Hamzah with a new government, of by and for the people.
 Five years ago the people were able to overthrown the New Order regime
which was far stronger; the people have proved able to corner the military;
they have been capable of demonstrating their sovereignty and strength in
the face of imperialisme and its agents. The people have even understood
that a struggle for liberation against imperialism and its agents is only
possible with organised mass action.

What the people need now is a vehicle for combined struggle to dump the
lackeys of imperialism currently in power, led by Mega and Hamzah; to get
rid of the remnants of the New Order regime. Amidst the struggling masses,
the fighters for democracy and social justice need a combined vehicle to
involve wider layers of the masses and bring them enlightenment. They must
clear away the illusions which are constantly propagated by the lackeys of
imperialism. The demand to replace the Mega-Hamzah regime needs to be
developed far and wide, until it is clearer and clear in the eyes of the
people what is the way out [of the crisis]. Not just to demand replacement
of Mega-Hamzah, but of any regime that supports imperialism. Therefore all
fighters for democracy and social justice must unite and appear before the
people as an alternative, offering them another road. Not the IMF road, not
the road of Mega-Hamzah, not the road of the New Order and militarism, but
a road built by the strength of the poor masses.

Accordingly, the Central Leading Committee of the PRD declares:

1.      The PRD will participate in the electoral process, as part of an
alliance of groups fighting for democracy and social justice. We call for
the formation of such an alliance, as a means for the people to gather
alternative forces to challenge the ruling elite;
2.      The PRD calls on the people to join this alliance of electoral struggle
(combined party), opening secretariats and information posts of the party.
Naturally this umbrella organisation cannot be just for election
campaigning, but will also be a tool of people?s struggle and resistance
against the policies that are impoverishing the people, neo-liberal
policies dictated by the IMF and World Bank to the various governments of
Indonesia.

3. The PRD hereby declares that all the people of Indonesia who wish to
struggle for the needs of the poor masses, and who yearn for a society more
democratic and free from militarism and the remnants of the New Order
regime, to enrol as members of the [new] party.

Bring down the Mega-Hamzah Government!!
Form of a Government of the Poor!!

General Chair: Haris Rusly Moti
General Secretary: Natalia Scholastika
Jakarta, 4 Juni 2003