In Indonesia's rather authoritarian political system a free space for the people is being carved out, not by political parties, but by hundreds of non-government organisations (NGOs) all over the country. They are vigorously active in many areas of advocacy - such as the environment, human rights, legal reform, land reform, consumer rights, and community development - from Aceh to Irian Jaya. The International NGO Forum for Indonesian Development (INFID) brings many of them together on one platform.
INFID does not represent the entire NGO movement. Neither more radical groupings such as PRD, nor large religious movements with social programmes such as NU participate formally. Yet it remains an impressive achievement of common platform-building under the political pressures prevailing in Indonesia today.
Overseas
Part of the same network, but in such a way as to allow the Indonesian NGOs full autonomy, are a number of overseas organisations excited by the Indonesian NGO agenda. They come from Europe, Japan, North America, and Australia. The Indonesian and overseas sections of INFID each have their own permanent secretariat. A biennial conference brings together both wings and makes policy statements.
This time the conference, INFID's tenth, was held in Australia (26-28 April 1996). Theme for the conference was 'land'. Three pre-INFID public forums picked up on other pressing social issues - plans to build a nuclear plant in Java, the Freeport copper mine in Irian Jaya, and labour problems in the burgeoning industrial areas.
Personalities
Having INFID in Australia was a great learning experience for us in this country. The issue of Inside Indonesia now in your hands offers just a glimpse of what went on. Rather than summarise the plethora of statements issued, we thought we'd put a human face on INFID by introducing some of its Indonesian personalities. Some speak about INFID as a whole - Asmara Nababan and Maria Pakpahan of the Jakarta office, and academic Mochtar Mas'oed - while others take up some concrete issues.
Fauzi Abdullah talks about his personal experience of labour problems. John Rumbiak discusses his life in Irian Jaya. Stephanus Djuweng, from Kalimantan, rejects the notion of 'development' altogether. The young autodidact Noer Fauzi, meanwhile, debates the value of Australian aid to a large land title registration programme, and offers alternatives.
Our thanks go to Christine Wheeler, who conducted most of these interviews, and to Ed Aspinall, who then transcribed and edited them. Christine works at Community Aid Abroad in Sydney, while Ed is a PhD student at Australian National University in Canberra.
Papers
The interviews are supplemented by extracts from two of the best papers presented at the conference. One by Sidney Jones describes the lot of Indonesian women working in Malaysia, while another by Tom Etty urges indigenous land rights activists to look to the International Labour Organisation for help.
We hope you will agree that what this edition of Inside Indonesia lacks in completeness - we had to leave out the nuclear debate altogether - it makes up for in vitality.
All statements of the Tenth INFID Conference are available
from these addresses: The Indonesia-Australia Programme of
Cooperation, PO Box 1160, Collingwood Vic 3066, Australia, tel
+61-3-9417 7505, fax +61-3-9416 2746; INFID Indonesia, Jalan
Duren Tiga Selatan no. 15, Jakarta 12760, Indonesia, tel/fax +62-
21-799 5400, email infid@nusa.or.id; INFID Netherlands,
Amaliastraat 7, 2514 JC The Hague, Netherlands, tel +31-70-342
1621, fax +31-70-361 4461, email infidnl@antenna.nl.
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