[list_indonesia] [ppiindia] [Doc. G30S '65] Counter-Revolution in Java by Harald Munthe-Kaas
- From: Mira Wijaya Kusuma <la_luta@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: sastra pembebasan <sastra-pembebasan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 27 Mar 2005 12:50:11 -0800 (PST)
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Counter-Revolution in Java
By Harald Munthe-Kaas
Tensions in Indonesia are not easing. Mr Munthe-Kaas,
who visited army units hunting the PKI chief D. N.
Aidit in Central Java recently, points out that, on
the contrary, the Communists' resistance has stiffened
and they have succeeded in escalating their attacks on
the army.
President Sukarno's position has obviously been
severely weakened and it is doubtful whether he
retains enough personal influence and prestige to save
his NASAKOM concept and prevent a prolonged conflict
between the opposing parties -- a conflict which
threatens to develop into a full-scale civil war.
THE CORE of the once so powerful Indonesian Communist
Party (PKI) is fighting for its survival on the slopes
of the Merapi volcano in Central Java. The wayang
leather puppet play is still going on, but the shadows
on the screen are too diffuse to be able to
distinguish the heroes from the villains. No outsiders
can yet know exactly what took place in the few days
immediately preceding
the bloody events of September 30, and it is
reasonable to assume that the whole story has not been
published by the Army-controlled newspapers of present
day Indonesia -- despite their claims to the contrary.
Nor have the Indonesian Communists or their supporters
in Peking released much material relating to the
affair.
However, the overall picture which has emerged is that
the PKI led or instigated a coup against the Army,
which appears likely to have been planning a coup
against the PKI, which the Communists attempted to
forestall. However, the evidence is still insufficient
to decide whether it was an imminent Army coup which
triggered off the September 30 putsch or whether it
was the other way around -- although the Army
vehemently denies that it ever contemplated a coup.
On the other hand, the lack of organisation displayed
by Colonel Untung's group naturally creates doubts
about the Army version of the affair, which alleges
that there was a carefully-laid PKI plot.
The evidence indicates that the GESTAPU acted in some
kind of emergency. It seems most probable that a
sudden deterioration in Sukarno's health (though he
now looks quite healthy) did in fact precipitate
events.
Despite the Army's intensive efforts to bring the
archipelago under control after the abortive GESTAPU
coup, important parts of Indonesia are still in a
"state of war" and the rooting out of GESTAPU is far
from complete. After a period of optimism (a
high-ranking officer
in Central Java told me a few weeks ago that it would
only take a few more days -- maybe a week -- before
the situation would be back to normal), the Army now
seems to be preparing itself for a prolonged
confrontation with "GESTAPU elements" -- who have been
completely identified with the PKI. Although the state
of war was declared over in the Djakarta area on
November 10, the regulations and emergency measures
imposed on the city by the local "War Administrator"
still remain valid, and the search for GESTAPU
elements continues unabated.
There are no signs that tensions are diminishing in
Central and Eastern Java. On the contrary, two new
cities in Central Java, Semarang and Tjilatjap, have
been declared in a "state of war". Until
recently, the Communists who have clashed with the
Army have been small and apparently badly-organised
rebel groups armed only with very few modern weapons,
but a recent attack by 1,000 Communists on Army units
near Klaten in Central Java indicates that they are
now better organised.
More apparent proof that the Army is a long way from
bringing Central Java under its control is the
reported escape by PKI Chairman Aidit from the massive
encirclement in the Kartosuro-Bojolali-Klaten
area where, until recently, the Army was convinced
that they had got him tightly boxed in. If Aidit has
escaped (he is currently rumoured to be in
Jogdjakarta) and the PKI can continue to muster large
groups of followers and lead them in attacks against
the Army in Central Java, then, barring a miracle, a
civil war will be almost inevitable.
The professed intention of the Army is to find and
punish all those responsible for the abortive
September 30 coup -- not to root out Communism from
Indonesian soil. The Minister of Defence and Army
Chief of Staff, General Nasution, has recently been
quoted as saying that the Army is not anti-Communist,
"but is against Communists who have become traitors to
our country". The distinction has apparently proved to
be too delicate to provide a practical guide to those
officers responsible for "restoring the peace". The
whole of the PKI seems to have become collectively
responsible for the events of September 30. Indeed,
some have not confined their attentions to the
Communists; in President Sukarno's words: "A witch
hunt is under way, not only against the PKI, but
against everything leftist".
There have been reports of former PKI members gaining
absolution from responsibility for September 30 by
tearing up their membership cards and publicly
condemning the party leaders. The Deputy Chairman of
the Muslim Scholars' Party, K.H.M. Dachlan, told the
Review recently
(see interview on page 324 of Review of November 18)
that the membership is divided into three main groups,
a small minority who still carry on their opposition
against the Army, and the huge majority who have
either burned their Party cards or are still sitting
on the fence. The deepening of resistance against the
Army in many parts of the country indicates that
people have now started to climb down from the fence
-- not necessarily on the same side as the Army.
The effectiveness of the Army's mopping up operations
is also difficult to make a judgement on. Scattered
figures on GESTAPU casualties are published, but few
figures on Army casualties have been announced. The
numbers of people arrested or detained in certain
areas have been published but no overall comprehensive
figures given. The official Soviet news agency Tass
has reported that 10 leftist organisations have been
banned in addition to the PKI, that 50 newspapers have
had to stop publication and that 14 universities have
been closed down.
Although the PKI has been temporarily banned and the
Indonesian Parliament has passed a resolution
demanding that this measure should be made permanent,
President Sukarno has so far resisted the pressure. He
has to make the final decision, and has merely
promised that "he will think about the matter". His
conference with 200 senior regional officers of the
Army at Bogor on November 20 indicates that he is
still doing all in his power to prevent the collapse
of NASAKOM, his concept of a coalition between
Nationalist, Religious and Communist groups. He has,
however, not been able to prevent the suspension of
Communists from all important national bodies--57
members of Parliament representing the PKI and its
affiliated mass organisations have been temporarily
suspended, including the two PKI Vice-Chairmen Lukman
and Njoto. Directives have been issued to
Minister-Co-ordinators and Ministries to suspend
temporarily all those who "have undoubtedly taken
part" in the September 30 movement, or may be
suspected of having done so, from all important
sections of public administration, on the national as
well as on the regional level.
General Nasution has ordered that all PKI elements
should be purged from the Indonesian armed forces, and
other military leaders have stated flatly that the
Army, "without hesitation .... will continue to purge
all state agencies of coup and Communist elements". In
this they appear to have the full support of all the
nationalist and religious groups and parties in the
country, who on numerous occasions have strongly
endorsed the Army's handling of the GESTAPU affair.
The strongest public manifestation of support took
place on November 9, when crowds estimated at from
100,000 to 1,500,000 (the latter being the official
estimate) rallied in Banteng Square in Djakarta and
demanded the outlawing of the PKI. Two days later, in
his "Heroes Day" speech, the deputy speaker of the
Indonesian Parliament, Mr Sjaichu, said Indonesia
would have to face internal trouble as long as the PKI
was not dead.
The strong demands to crack down on the Communists
have put President Sukarno in a very lonely and
isolated position. There are constant rumours that he
himself was implicated in the GESTAPU affair in some
way and that he more or less knew what was brewing at
the time of the coup, but, once again, there has been
no evidence to substantiate the allegations.
Notwithstanding the suspicions, Sukarno is probably
the only person in Indonesia who is in a position to
attempt --actively -- to restore some kind of
cooperation between the Communist, nationalist and
religious groups in the country. He has grasped every
opportunity to create a calmer atmosphere which might
make it possible for him to find a "political
solution" to the grave problems facing his country.
"We are destroying ourselves from the inside", was the
warning to the 200 high-ranking Army officers he had
assembled at Bogor on November 20. But Bung Karno does
not appear to carry the same weight as before: "People
tell me that they obey Bung Karno, obey the President
... but recently I find that these are mere words ...
they merely talk about obedience. I find that what
they do is utter rubbish. They do not carry out my
orders." The Army has effective control of internal
matters in Indonesia today; there can be little doubt
about the "people" Sukarno had in mind.
Despite his enormous popularity with the people, there
appears to be little Sukarno can do to change the mood
of the Army and the religious and nationalist groups.
Instead of creating the "state of calm" he wants, the
situation has been getting more and more tense;
instead of the state of emergency being lifted, the
tendency in many parts of the country is towards more
strictly-enforced and expanded curfews and other
emergency regulations -- especially in Central
Java. Reports from islands of the archipelago indicate
that the Army may be facing trouble outside Java,
hitherto the main theatre of events.
Public demonstrations against the PKI -- clearly
sponsored by the military authorities -- are becoming
more and more frequent, and anti-Communist sentiments
are being fanned. It is virtually hopeless for any
public figure, with the exception of Sukarno, publicly
to express any misgivings about the trend of events.
There can be little doubt that the PKI and its
leaders, wherever they may be, will not continue to
take the purge lying down. They will certainly hit
back. Last week, General Nasution himself claimed that
the Communist-led rebels who staged the September 30
coup were preparing counter-offensives. Addressing
Army officers in Bandung, he warned that the movement
had not yet been destroyed and that its secret
supporters were still rife. He called on the armed
forces
to continue their operations to crush the movement.
The rift between the revolutionary and
anti-revolutionary forces in Indonesia is becoming
wider and wider, and the bridge which did -- however
tenuously -- span the gulf between the different
camps,
threatens to collapse completely. As the President
himself has admitted, the "Indonesian lighthouse" is
dimming.
Source:
Far Eastern Economic Review
Reference: Vol. 50, No. 9, 2 Dec 1965, 408
http://www.feer.com
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