9
1999 to mend the split in the federation and deemed any prior congress as unconstitutional (ACILS
1998h, 13). Nevertheless, in early October, the rebels held a congress and declared the formation of
a new federation, SPSI-Reformasi.
Outside of Jakarta, confusion reigned about events in Jakarta (ACILS 1998g, 16; ACILS
1998i, 12; ACILS 1999d, 13-4). SPSI-Reformasi supporters had not discussed their plans in depth
with SPSI functionaries controlling provincial and district offices, and poor planning gave SPSI the
opportunity to fight back. In Jakarta, the executive board hired men to prevent SPSI-Reformasi
supporters from entering the building and accessing union records (ACILS 1998i, 13); SPSI also
reportedly blocked the bank accounts of the 11 sectors that supported SPSI-Reformasi (ACILS
1998b, 17). In provincial and district secretariats, sectoral leaders with different allegiances continued
to share office space; many individuals were on the fence as they were blindsided by developments
in Jakarta, and most provincial offices agreed with the national leadership’s decision to resolve the
conflict at a special congress in February 1999 (ACILS 1998g, 16; ACILS 1998i, 13; ACILS 1999d,
13-4). At the special congress, the continued strength of SPSI was evident. Over 300 delegates
attended, and many delegates that attended the SPSI-Reformasi congress were also present at SPSI’s
special congress (ACILS 1999c, 16).
After the special congress, sectoral union functionaries loyal to SPSI began to travel to their
affiliates, making the case that SPSI-Reformasi was illegitimate (ACILS 1999e, 18). In some cases,
cruder tactics were employed. For example, in Surabaya the district office of SPSI called in the
police to break up a meeting held by the branch office of an SPSI-Reformasi affiliate, and SPSI
officials in Surabaya and Yogyakarta attempted to break up plant level unions affiliated with SPSI-
Reformasi (ACILS 1999e, 18). Over the next year, some unions returned to SPSI, and all of the
sectoral unions that remained in SPSI-Reformasi split, with some plant-level unions joining SPSI-
Reformasi and others returning to SPSI. Perhaps most amusingly, the men elected to the positions
Convention