Mutiara Anggrayni
4SA01 (15611050)
Indonesian students abroad take to the streets
Sporadic demonstrations have broken out against the success of the Red-and-White Coalition
in passing of the law that abolished the rights of the people to directly elect regional heads.
Most of the protests and criticism were channeled through social media.
The situation, however, is quite different abroad. From Washington DC, New York, Perth,
Melbourne to Amsterdam, Indonesian political activists have united, taking advantage of
social media to hold protests against efforts to curtail people’s democratic rights.
In New York, dozens of students gathered at Times Square. In Washington, a group of
Indonesian students demanded President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who was on a visit to
the US last month, to stop betraying the nation.
The House of Representatives recently passed the Regional Elections Law, which curtails
people’s voting rights. Under the new law, governors, mayors and regents are elected by
legislative councils instead of directly by the people. Indonesia began holding local direct
elections in June 2005 in Kutai Kartanagara as mandated by Law No. 32 on regional head
elections, one year after Indonesian voters directly elected their president for the first time.
Millions of Indonesians are disappointed by the new restrictive law.
The same disappointment has encouraged Indonesians living abroad to organize protests
against the law.
One of the biggest protests occurred in Melbourne on Saturday, with more than 60 people
taking part. Standing in one of the biggest public spaces in the heart of Melbourne, protesters
carried signs and wore masks depicting political actors who are being held responsible for
letting the new bill pass.
Poetry readings and a short theatrical act were also organized as part of the protest.
One of the student coordinators, Aulia Latif, told The Jakarta Post that the protest was aimed
at putting more international pressure on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and political
elites in Indonesia.
“What we have learned about the President is that he is really concerned about his image. For
the last 10 years, we have seen him building his international image. So I hope this [protest]
puts [more] pressure on him,” he said.
It took the organizer of Melbourne’s protest less than a week to organize everything and
gather the masses.“We can easily organize everything using social media,” said Aulia, who
also took part in student protests to topple president Soeharto in 1998.
Facebook and Twitter enable people to voice their opinions about the government and
facilitate protests and other political movements.
A more coordinated approach has been adopted by other groups of Indonesians living abroad
in response to the passing of the Regional Elections Law. Through social media, Indonesians
in Perth, Amsterdam, Canberra, Berlin and Vancouver coordinated with each other to
organize a non-violent protest against the law.
The mastermind behind the movement, Diah Kusumaningrum, said that the idea behind the
unique concept was to raise global awareness of the issue and invite the international
community to
participate.
“For us, it is important that the wakes are seen as events where world citizens — not just
Indonesians — mourn a rollback of democracy,” said Diah, who is based in Austria.
Ironically, there have been no major protests on Indonesian streets. The most vocal reactions
have been expressed on social media.
The creation of the hashtag #ShameonyouSBY, which was later replaced by
#ShamedbyYouSBY are a part of the online movements criticizing the passing of the law.
The hashtag #ShameonyouSBY went to the top of Twitter’s worldwide trending topics list.
Yet many believe that voicing criticism on social media is not enough. Some political
activists see the need for the masses to take to the streets and be part of protests such as those
that were held in 1998.
Nanang Indra Kurniawan, a PhD candidate at Victoria University and also a lecturer on
politics at Gadjah Mada University, said that political activism in 1998 and today was
incomparable.
“The situation is different. Back in 1998, our enemy was clear — Soeharto and his
authoritarian New Order regime — but the problems have become more plural,” he said.
Nanang was also involved in the 1998 student protests.
It seems that Indonesia’s intelligentsia living abroad have taken one step ahead by staging
protests not only on social media but also on the streets.
Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/10/07/indonesian-students-abroad-take-
streets.html
DIRECT SENTENCE
1. “What we have learned about the President is that he is really concerned about his image. For the last 10 years, we have seen him building his international image. So I hope this [protest] puts [more] pressure on him,” he said.
2. “The situation is different. Back in 1998, our enemy was clear — Soeharto and his authoritarian New Order regime — but the problems have become more plural,” he said.
