Megawati Support Committee Formed By Ribka Tjiptaning In Today's Memory, February 12, 1998

Activist who is now a PDIP politician, Ribka Tjiptaning said he refused the COVID-19 vaccination in the RDP in the DPR with the Minister of Health, January 12, 2021. (YouTube DPR RI)

JAKARTA - Today's memory, 25 years ago, February 12, 1998, activist of the Democratic People's Party (PRD), Ribka Tjiptaning Proletariyati formed the Megawati Supporting Committee (KPM). The KPM movement was also inaugurated at the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI), Jakarta.

The presence of the KPM has become a space for the poor in the city so that students fully support Megawati Soekarnoputri to become the new President of Indonesia. Because, they believe Megawati is a symbol of the resistance of the little people.

The world of Indonesian politics was caused by an uproar in 1993. The New Order (Orba) government, especially. The commotion took place at the PDI Extraordinary Congress (KLB) in Surabaya. The results of the KLB match Soekarno's second child, Megawati, who incidentally is a new child in Indonesian politics as the General Chair of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI).

At that time, Suharto and New Order seemed to have received serious challengers. Megawati's leadership in the PDI was hailed by all Indonesian people. The figure is considered to be able to bring new hope. A hope that Indonesia will no longer be led by authoritarian regimes.

The New Order was disturbed by Megawati's presence. The owner of the power of strategy. They made a new KLB in Medan in 1996. The KLB won Soerjadi as chairman of the legitimate PDI General Chair. Meanwhile, Megawati's camp status is considered invalid.

The peak of dualism has terrorized Megawati's sympathizers. Megawati's camp, which inhabited the headquarters of Banteng on Jalan Diponegoro 58, Menteng, Central Jakarta, was attacked by sympathizers from the Soerjadi camp who were supported by the New Order military.

The incident was later remembered as the Incident 27 July 1996 or abbreviated as Kudatuli. Since then, sympathy for Megawati has increased. All Indonesian people support it. PRD activist, Ribka Tjiptaning, one of them.

PDI is the only party that dares to oppose the New Order regime. Meanwhile, the other two parties are under government control. Megawati is a symbol of people's resistance to New Order arbitrariness. The people who are on Megawati's side. Therefore, the Kudatuli incident actually made the people's support even bigger and more widespread.

People sympathize with Bung Karno's family, who have always been oppressed by the New Order, especially Megawati, who is the party leader. The government is trying to silence Megawati and her followers' struggles. However, this effort did not produce results and even made Megawati's name fly even more," said Ribka Tjiptaning in the book Megawati: Son of Son Sang Fajar (2012).

Persympati Ribka (which later became a PDI-P politician) continues. For her, Megawati should be the leader of Indonesia. Megawati's leadership is not easily influenced by other people to become the estuary. That's what distinguishes Megawati from other people.

He and his friends also initiated to form KPM. He inaugurated the movement at the YLBHI office, Jakarta on February 12, 1998. This movement has a desire that Megawati can be transformed into the new Indonesian number one person.

Support for KPM continues to flow. Moreover, KPM does not limit its members from anywhere. From the poor cities, laborers, to students. KPM then immediately appeared in various regions. At the national level, Ribka herself led the way.

"KPM, Megawati's highly fanatical and in fact support committee consists of urban poor, as well as several independent student organizations," said Anders Uhlin in his writing in the Wacana Journal entitled Democracy in Indonesia: Opportunities and Obstacles (1999).