Indonesia

[PRP members protest against the Indonesia president, October 20, 2009. Photo by PRP international department.]
March 31, 2010 -- Socialist Alliance national convenor Peter Boyle interviews Ignatius Mahendra Kusumawardhana, the international relations officer for the Working People's Association (Perhimpunian Rakyat Pekerja – PRP) of Indonesia, who was in Australia to speak at Socialist Alternative's "Marxism 2010" conference in Melbourne, April 2-5, 2010.

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By Peter Boyle, photos by Ulfa Ilyas

Kampung Guji Baru is just one of the many shanty settlements in the megacity of Jakarta, where an estimated 3 million poor people try to survive. Now its residents face forced eviction after greedy developers, corrupt government officials and the "land mafia" conspired to get the courts to do their bidding through fraudulent claims and documents. The developers want to build multistorey luxury apartments and more shopping malls for the rich. The residents and the Poor People's Union (Serikat Rakyat Miskin Indonesia, SRMI) are resisting and they ask for your solidarity.

Pictured: January 28, 2010 rally to protest 100 days of SBY presidency. Photo by Ulfa Ilyas.

Peter Boyle
An historic decision to relaunch itself as an open party was made at the 7th congress of the People's Democratic Party (PRD) of Indonesia on March 1-3. The party's socialist politics will be expressed within the five principles laid out by Indonesia's first President Sukarno's June 1, 1945 speech on “Pancasila” (nationalism, internationalism, democracy, socialism and belief in god).

[Pictured: Tamil refugees in Merak.]
Niko Leka, Green Left Weekly
30 January 2010 -- On January 26, three refugee advocates — Sydney-based Tamil community activist Sara Nathan, Pamela Curr from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre in Melbourne, and Jessica Chandrashekar from the Canadian Humanitarian Appeal for Relief of Tamils — were arrested in Merak, Indonesia.
They had planned to take humanitarian aid to the 240 Tamil refugees stranded since their boat was intercepted by the Indonesian Navy at the request of the Australian government in October 2009, refugee advocate Ian Rintoul told ABC news on January 28.

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Photos by Ulfa Ilyas (above) and PRP International (below)
Jakarta, Indonesia -- January 28, 2010 -- Thousands of Indonesians staged a mass protest in front of the presidential palace. The protesters criticised the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's neoliberal policies and corruption on its 100th day in office.

On December 9, 2009, protests against corruption were held in Indonesia. Above are those organised by the People's Democratic Party. Photos by Roso Suroso, Ririn Sefsani, Ulfa Ilyas and Rudi Hartono.

December 9, 2009 -- The great photos above are of a mass demonstration in Jakarta on International Anti-corruption Day December 9, 2009, just one of many demonstrations against corruption have been sweeping Indonesia protesting allegations that a US$600 million government bailout was given to Century Bank on condition that some of the money be used to fund President Yudhoyono's re-election campaign.
Links International Journal of Socialist Renewal and Green Left Weekly's Peter Boyle asked Dominggus Oktavanius, a leader of the Peoples Democratic Party (PRD), about this latest wave of demonstations.

Legal roads for justice were blocked off for the residents of Suluk Bongkal village, whose houses and properties were attacked and burned down last month by hundreds of police and thugs following years of land dispute with a pulp producing company PT Arara Abadi.

LMND/Papernas: On Thursday (18/12/08), two helicopters flew in circles and used napalm, the kind used by the US troops in Vietnam, against farmers' settlement in Dusun Solok Bongkal, Beringin Village, Sub-District of Pinggir, Bengkalis, Riau. In seconds, about 700 citizens' houses were burnt down, along with the farming lands, productive tools, and furniture that could not be saved by their owners. Furthermore, about a thousand thugs and five hundred armed police personnel were deployed to evict the citizens. Police opened fire not only to scare the citizens, but also aimed at them, so that two citizens were shot. Ironically, a toddler named Fitri (2 years old) was so frightened that she fell into a well and died. During the incident, about 200 citizens were arrested and detained at Mandau Police station, and about 400 more are hiding in the forest of Kampung Dalam, while surrounded by hundreds of police and thugs who hunt them like outlaws. Apparently, the Indonesian Police cooperation with the US military results in the former's use of napalm in a scorched earth against people's houses.