Indonesia in Revolt - Democracy or Death

This film was made in Indonesia and Australia between August 1998 and March 1999 in cooperation with underground activists from Indonesia. This film tells the story of the 1998 explosion of the Indonesian student movement and its successful struggle to get rid of the 33 years authoritarian regime of Suharto. It is also serves as a reminder of how the struggle for full democracy, social justice and freedom in Indonesia, is not yet over.
During the documentary's production, Jill Hickson spent two months with the Indonesian students and members of the People's Democratic Party (PRD) featured in the film. At this time, many political activists was still in jail and the Indonesian military's alleged campaign of kidnapping and torturing pro-democracy activists was still ongoing, resulting in the disappearance of 13 activists.
Indonesia in Revolt tell its story through interviews from student activists, left academics, journalists, and writers, political activists who had disappeared and had been tortured as well as political prisoners including Dita Sari, a trade union activist and leader of the People's Democratic Party who was jailed for leading a strike of 20-,000 factory worers in Surabaya, East Java. The interview was filmed on a secret camera in jail under the noses of the guards. These people tell the story of the brutal rule by Suharto's military with actual footage of the rise of the student and left movement at the time, which is one of the most significant event in Indonesia's history until the present day.

Watch the full documentary here