By: Symphati Dimas R
(Chairman of the National Students’ Front/FMN)
Introduction
The Youth are one element or sector
in society which are massive in number compared to the total amount of the
peoples of Indonesia. They are 15 to 35 years old, both males and females and
has the special characteristic whereby they have a very high mobility, being
dynamic and active. As an element which is expanding and growing, they have a
future to develop themselves and support many aspects to encourage bright
future of people in the country.
Indonesia is one of the most massive population countries
in the world. In 2017, the population of Indonesia reached around 262 million
people. While the amount of youth based on their age is around 63,2 million
people, or around 24,5% of the population. Seen through regions, the urban
youth amounts 25,92%, while youth in rural area is 23,14%. The youth are
dispersed among various classes and various sectors in Indonesia. The youth are
spread as farmers or peasant, workers, students, professional workers to the
semi proletariat. Based on the amount, wide spread, and characteristic, youth play
an important role in the future progress of the Indonesian people. This has
been proven historically, in the national liberation struggle of 1945, to the
Democratic movement of May 1998.
However,
the people of Indonesia generally experinced of opperession and exploitation
until today.
Under the system of Semi-colonial Semi-feudal (Setengah Jajahan
Setengah Feodal), the exploitation of Imperialism, Feudalism, and Bureaucrat
Capitalism makes the youth fall into uncertainty future, pulled-out to the dark side of road! They’re facing problems of
unilaterally firings massively, unemployment, lack of access for good education,
more expensive education costs, social backwardness, harrasement, violances, discriminations,
became victims of human traficking and drugs abuse.
Indonesian Youth Under the Domination of US Imperialism
The wave of economic crisis caused by the financial
crisis and over-production has increasing poverty and unemployment. The US imperialist
is intensifying efforts in order to resolve the worsening of crisis. This
eventually creates various maneuvers and schemes to be implemented into many of
colonial or semi colonial states. The US continues to strengthen neoliberal
policies and promote war of aggression and intervention under the name of world
security and democracy. These are to ensure enactment of imperialist dictate
and accumulate super-profit by intensification of exploitation and oppression
in the colonial and semi-colonial countries.
US Imperialist is intensifying production of
commodities to support economic development that continues to exploit the
people. The International monopoly capitalist of US accumulate super-profits by
decreasing workers’ wages, monopoly and grab the land for investment, and grab
the people’s money by forcing the elimination of peoples’ subsidies. The
political crisis in the forms of aggressive wars, interventions, threats of
nuclear war, and economic sanctions continue in various nations.
Under the regime of
Donald trump, US imperialist become “the king of war” and directly intervene in
many states. In the beginning of his administration, Trump had released a chauvinist
policy called “American First”, or “Make Amerika Great again”, which holds the
national interests of the United States, by increasing the global war against
terrorism, having anti-migrant policies, spreading racist and discriminative
xenophobia towards immigrants and Muslim (Islam), doing missile strikes to
Syrian Arab Republic, striking the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and
giving economic sanctions which isolate Russia, Venezuela, Iran, and having
similar policies to other nations, including Indonesia. These are conditions
that clearly shown how the US imperialist became more fascist, threatening and
destroying the national sovereignty.
In
the past three years, the domestic crisis in Indonesia has been protracted.
This can be seen from the various policies that were issued and implemented
through the Nawacita of Jokowi. In the third year (2014 - 2017), the Jokowi-JK
regime continues to provide "red carpets" for imperialist
investments, particularly the United States in Indonesia. In the Investment
Report Executive Summary by AmCham Indonesia and U.S Chamber of Commerce (USCC)
it is emphasized that to make investment, it requires a good investment climate
and the elimination of complexity of bureaucracy in Indonesia. The US targets the
value of Indonesia-US economic activity to rise 46.2 percent from US$ 90.1
billion in 2014 to US$ 131.7 in 2019. The Jokowi regime continues to produce
and implement various regulations and policies to serve and protect the flow of
capital US imperialists and other capitalists. On behalf of the National
Strategic Project (PSN), Jokowi-JK provides services for large-scale plantation
investments, agricultural and food estates, mining, national parks,
conservation and infrastructure development projects such as reservoirs, toll
roads, ports, industrial estates, MRT, fast railway, hydropower, power plant,
and others.
The main objective of the Jokowi-JK administration
is to provide maximum service for foreign investment, especially US imperialist
in Indonesia. Jokowi's government stipulates the required funding needed in
infrastructure development until 2019 is estimated at Rp 4,800 trillion. In
2015, the realization of infrastructure budget in the National Revenue and
Expense Budget (Anggaran Pendapatan dan Belanja Nasional/APBN) is only IDR 290
trillion; in 2016 IDR 313.5 trillion and 2017 is allocated only Rp 346.6
trillion. Therefore, the government is massively cutting subsidies anddiverting public sector funds to accelerate
infrastructure development. In addition, IFC and the World Bank disburse
debts of US$ 12 billion for 4 years. Beyond that, these financial institutions
have poured US$ 1 billion by 2016. Institutions such as Indonesia
Infrastructure Fund (IIF), Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC),
ADB, World Bank and AIIB are also ready to finance the project infrastructure
development in Indonesia both with investment and debt. In the meantime,
government debt in Jokowi era is increasing. In 2014 at the end of SBY's power,
the government has debts of US $ 209.7 billion or Rp 2,608.8 trillion. While
Jokowi is in power, government debt has soared to Rp. 4000 trillion, or a
significant increase of Rp 1,392 trillion.
Rural Youth in Indonesia
Rural youth reached 23,14% from
the total of Indonesian who live in the village. Many of them are working as farmers,
students, farmhands (buruh
tani),
and other sectors. Since monopoly
and land grabbing became the
main
problem in Indonesia,
the rural youth are working as farmers with very small of land, or even became
landless which forced them work as farmhand who sold their labor to the rich
farmers and “Landlord” with very cheap of wages. Many of them forced to migrate
to the cities or even go abroad as migrants workers to get the better life
without protection of the government. Majority of them are women
The monopoly of the land for
plantation and mining sectors has now reached approximately 41,87 million
hectares. The palm oil plantation is owned and controlled only by 25 big private landlords,
has reached 29 million ha of
the licenses of plantation, where 13 million hectares of
them have been planted with oil
palm trees. The number has not even included
plantation land width that is controlled by the State. Meanwhile, for the logging and tree plantation,
there is 531 large scale logging
concession given above land 35,8 million hectares. In the mining sector, there
is approximately 8.000 mining licenses that reached 2,519,415.82 hectares.
At the same time, the
Jokowi regime has pushed even more programs and schemes to debilitate the
farmers in the village. For example,
CPO Fund (oil palm plantation funding scheme), and PIS-AGRO Partnership
for Indonesian sustainable Agriculture: PIS-AGRO, which is an agriculture
liberalization partnership issued
through World Economics Forum on 2012 as one
of the new face of capitalist monopoly exploitation and the enforcers in the
country. On the other side, from the “Fake” Agrarian Reform program of Jokowi, the
government instead
legitimizes monopoly and land grabbing.
Other than that, rural youth are also facing
reality that they are forced to be low-waged laborers in cities because of the
constriction of land in the rural area. Even worse, forced to migrate to abroad becoming a migrant workers, which now has reached
more than 8 million people, majority are youngsters and women. Migrating
to the city or overseas does not also guarantee the improvement and the fate of
rural youth. In fact, being a laborer in the city means being shackled by low
wages. On the other side, being a migrant laborer means gambling without genuine protection from the
government.
The Urban Youth in
Indonesia
The urban youth are facing not much better
conditions
than youth
in rural area. They are
working in cities in various sectors, there is 18,20%
(industrial laborer), 16,97% (service laborer), 36% (small merchant), and
19,15% (freelancer worker).
The young laborer as
modern productive power, face oppression and exploitation multiplied by the low
wages political scheme,
and labor market flexibility through short term of work contract and
outsourcing. The deprivation of wages is implemented under the Government
Regulation No.78 year of 2015 on Wages (Peraturan Pemerintah No. 78 Tahun 2015 tentang
Pengupahan). This regulated a new formulation of wage based on inflation number and economic growth. This result in the fluctuation of wage raise that
will never reach more than 10% per year. In 2017, the governemnt decided the increasing
amount of wage will only reach 8,71% for 2018. This number will be impossible to accommodate life necessities that always being on the rise. Deprivation of wages is also applying through state’s insurance scheme of Badan Penyelenggara Jaminan Sosial (BPJS) Kesehatan dan
Ketenagakerjaan that forces laborers
to pay fees that directly cut from their wage.
This condition forced the young laborers continuously struggling with difficulties in
their lives. Meanwhile,
through many development projects conducted in 225 of the National Strategic Projects, the Jokowi administration is keen on accelerating infrastructure development,
reclamation of coastal and sea, developing of elite commersial districts,
normalization of many settlements area and etc. Under the
name of “Smart City” development, the government is
continuously evicting the settlements of the poor in the
city. In Jakarta, approximately 360 spots targetted for the evictions. The reclamation
of Jakarta
Bay is threatening all people who are living in coastal area, including
young fishermen. The Jakarta Bay mega-project reclamation will evict more than 16.000 families in coastal area. Every
project directly connected with investment of imperialist
countries and also financial institution such as
World Bank.
The University
Students
in
Indonesia
The condition of Education
in Indonesia under Jokowi regime’s control is continuously suffering decline. The education sector is one sector sacrificed for the
sake of fluency of investments
and infrastructure development program. Jokowi-JK regime is allocating budget
for University sector in form of Bantuan Operasional Pendidikan.
BOPTN had a
budget cut in 2015, as much as IDR 3,763 trillion. It doesn’t even stop
there, as the cut happens yet again in 2017, which only has IDR 39
trillion in its budget, a drastic decrease compared to the year 2016, which had
its budget on IDR 42 trillion. The education became more expensive which is
followed by the narrowing access to education for the people of Indonesia.
Based on data published by UNICEF, 7,3 millions of Indonesian youth unable to
enroll in elementary school, 3 millions barred from access into junior high
school, and another 1 million unable to enroll in senior high school.
Meanwhile, the access to universities can be said to be very limited and difficult to be reached by poor. For example, in 2016, there were around 1,692,514 high school graduates. Yet, only 507,000 were recorded to be new students in universities (320.000 in state-owned universities, while the rest enrolled in private universities). That means, there were only 25% of the graduates that were able to enroll in universities. Besides that, there were totals of 5,4 millions university students in Indonesia. If we compare with the age of 18-25 years old, as the ideal age to enroll in universities, we found that only 10% of all Indonesian youth that could enroll in universities.
Meanwhile, the access to universities can be said to be very limited and difficult to be reached by poor. For example, in 2016, there were around 1,692,514 high school graduates. Yet, only 507,000 were recorded to be new students in universities (320.000 in state-owned universities, while the rest enrolled in private universities). That means, there were only 25% of the graduates that were able to enroll in universities. Besides that, there were totals of 5,4 millions university students in Indonesia. If we compare with the age of 18-25 years old, as the ideal age to enroll in universities, we found that only 10% of all Indonesian youth that could enroll in universities.
As the main
stakeholder of the higher education level in Indonesia, the
government has prioritized Vocational and Polytechnic schools. This is in line
with the National Medium
Term Development Plan (RPJMN 2014-2019), which puts these schools to be
built, then covers up 80% of every grades of education.
Moreover, students also encounters many other issues, such as the Higher Education Act (Undang-Undang Pendidikan Tinggi No.12 Tahun 2012) and also the expensive Single-Payment Tuition Fee (Uang Kuliah Tunggal/UKT). In fact, those regulations and policies were made as regulatory in calculation of unit cost in education based on inflation and condition of the market. Not to mention, the act of legitimizing given to state owned universities in order to allow them to cooperate with privately owned foreign corporations. Even worse, such cooperation and joint projects would often use the students as a cheaper means of research, treating them as if they’re just tools to reach their interest. This cooperation also involved the students to socialize government and corporate program. For example, when they propagate the ‘Save Migration’ programme in rural area and migrant workers’ residences.
In many universities, students
has received multiple acts of repression and intimidation. Since April 2016 up
to August 2017, there has been 6 acts of repression, with 115 students
suffering from suspension from the colleges’
authorities, and 54 others forcefully dropped out as a means of punishment.
There are also 192 students being the victims of physical violance, 190
of them arrested and criminalized.
Moreover, universities
has been used by the regime as a means to promote anti-people and anti-masses
policies. Through the Ministry of Research, Technologies, and Higher Education
(Menristekdikti), and Ministry Coordinator of
Political, Law, and Security (Menkopolhukam), even up to Jokowi, all of them
attempted to repress and limits the democratic space for students. Such things
were done in order to combat the so-called ‘radicalism’. Following such
‘concern’ from the regime, they gathered university directors from all over the
country in 25 August 2017 in the
State Palace (Istana Negara) and 26 September 2017 in Bali, in
order to promote and declarate Nationalism and Defense of Homeland programme.
Those agenda, as we all
know, are no more than the attempts of the regime to control the freedom of
association, speech, and expression. It’s a form of continuation of the Defense
of Homeland programme that was introduced in 2015. Moreover, the Defense
Minister has planned that Orientation Weeks in universities will be replaced by
Defense of Homeland Week program. Students will be the victims of one-way propaganda
from the regime regarding various values, policies, and their controls on it.
This is their way to silence and depoliticize the masses, and it’s more than
real in this case. To make their way into the realization of such program, the
Internal Affairs Minister has announced the plan to make sure that university
directorates will be directly appointed by the president.
The Dynamics of
Students’ Movement and the Role of FMN in the Democratic Struggle in Indonesia
Students’ movement in Indonesia has been through
so many dynamics and events in its whole lifetime. Even under the threat and
attempts of silencing, moderation, and repression by the regime, but the
students’ movement has been growing. There were various demonstrations and
direct actions with escalating intensity in the period of 2014 up to 2017, with
demonstrations held by students from University of Indonesia (UI/Jakarta),
Gajah Mada University (UGM/Yogyakarta), Technological University of Bandung
(ITB/Bandung), Sriwijaya University (Unsri/Palembang), Andalas University
(Unand/Padang), University of Palangkaraya (UPR/Central Kalimantan), Hasanuddin
University (Makassar), and State University of Makassar (Makassar), all of them
continuously struggled against the liberalization and commercialization of
education.
The attempts of regime to marginalize and moderate the students movement has already fragmented
movement, nationally. Jokowi
is intensifying meeting with the national leaders of national students organizations. Today, the both of organizations has supporting the regime in promoting their fascist
programme, and going as far as supporting the inherently fascist and repressive
Mass Organization Act, which deems that the regime could
free-handedly dissolve mass organizations.
Meanwhile, the National
Students’ Front (FMN), still stood on our feet, and will keep our firm and
militant position in our view and action against the Indonesian puppet regime. FMN views that
Indonesia under the regime of Joko Widodo, is nothing more than the
continuation of the previous puppet regimes of the United States, and the
guardian of the interest of comprador bourgeoisie, as well as the landlords in
Indonesia. Thus, FMN firmly stated our firm, militant, and consistent
resistance against the Indonesian, Jokowi regime.
FMN is a national
students’ organization, with the spirit of anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism
guiding our path to victory. FMN has committed itself to struggle and serve the
people, especially with the workers and peasants in Indonesia to end this
semi-colonial and semi-feudal system. FMN was born in 18 May 2003, with the Founding Congress held in Jakarta. Currently, we have held the Fifth National Congress.
Meanwhile, our organization has
grown and exists in 24 major cities in 18 provinces, covering 135 universities.
FMN struggles for a
national educational system that is scientific, democratic, and oriented on
serving the people which is the aspiration of the whole masses of Indonesia.
FMN also have to be the instrument to unite the students into its organization,
as a vanguard, and as a means of building an organization which is close and
wholly oriented in serving the people. In its Struggle Programmes,
FMN has manifested its closeness to the masses in
form of:
- “FMN actively played a role in the struggle for genuine land reforms, and the building of national industries as the condition to the realization of prosperity and changes in our society towards a bright future.”
- “Struggling with the workers against low wages, contract of work system, and outsourcing.”
- “Struggling with the peasants, fishermen, and national minority groups against the interest of corporate plantations, the building of infrastructures, national parks, corporate mining, reclamation, and other economic planning done in the interest of imperialists, big land lords, comprador bourgeoisie, and bureaucrat capitalists.”
- “Struggling with the urban poor against the eviction of the urban poor settlements.”
- “Campaigning the problems of the oppression of women and fighting against the feudal-patriarchal culture.”
- “Struggling for free, quality healthcare for the people.”
Meanwhile, in our International Solidarity
Programme, FMN has stated our political line, which are:
- “Rejecting every scheme of exploitation and imperialist oppression lead by the United States, rejecting war of aggression, intervention and imperialist domination in the world.”
- “Supporting and involving our organization actively in worldwide students’ movement as well as anti-imperialist popular movements.”
In the various moments of naitonal campaign or
direct popular struggle in Indonesia, FMN has actively involved ourselves and
building alliance with multi-sectoral organizations through the Front of Peoples’ Struggle
(Front Perjuangan
Rakyat/FPR) which is composed
of many anti-imperialist and anti-feudal organizations.
Also, FMN has regularly held “Serve the People” activities, down to the
mass bases of workers and peasants all around of Indonesia. The program
of “3 Sama” (To Work, To Live, and To Eat
with the Masses) has become our primary program to increase the militancy and
consciousness of all the members of FMN and other students in general.
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