Breaking the Chains of Oppression of the Indonesian People

Book excerpt: From its establishment in 1954 part of the mandate of Cornell's Modern Indonesia Project has been the translation and publication in English of important documents that would otherwise have been unavailable to many of those interested in Indonesia's social and political history. These have included the writings of Hatta, A. K. Pringgodigdo, Simatupang, Sjahrir, Sudjatmoko, Sukarno, Supomo, Widjojo, and Wilopo. Also included in this coverage of the Translation Series have been documents unavailable even in the original Dutch or Indonesian, such as the long suppressed report by the Netherlands East Indies Government's Coolie Budget Commission, Living Conditions of Plantation Workers and Peasants on Java, which we published twenty-five years ago. The translation here presented of Heri Akhmadi's defense statement at his trial is of a similar genre; for despite its intrinsic significance and its relevance to an appreciation of how the leaders of a new generation of educated Indonesians view their country's government and its major social, economic, and political problems, it too has been suppressed. To prevent this important insight into the current Indonesian situation becoming buried and unavailable, we are pleased to help provide for the dissemination it deserves. I would predict that a quarter of a century from now, Heri Akhmadi's statement may well be regarded as having at least as much importance to understanding present-day Indonesia as the Coolie Budget Commission report had for an earlier period in the country's history. Heri Akhmadi was elected by the student body of the Bandung Institute of Technology - one of the most prestigious institutions of higher learning in the country - as Chairman of their Student Council and their principal representative. Since his views are close to those of the elected student leaders from more than two dozen other universities and colleges who were arrested at the same time, his statement can be regarded as representative of the ideas of the intellectual vanguard of the contemporary generation of Indonesian students, which - despite ongoing efforts to suppress them - are likely to have a significant effect on their country's history. Heri Akhmadi and these other student leaders were arrested and jailed in 1978 following widespread student protest at Suharto's unopposed election for another term as President. As a consequence, they were charged with having insulted the head of state, and it is because of the nature of this charge that Heri Akhmadi's defense statement takes the form it does. What the government considers as an insult to the head of state is what the students see as valid criticism of its policies. It is to these criticisms that Heri Akhmadi addresses his defense statement that we have here published. - George McT. Kahin, January 1981