52 Years
After Fascist Genocide, Indonesians Scared of
“Communist Ghosts”
By Andre
Vltchek
October 11,
2017 "Information
Clearing House"
- From
Jakarta and Yogyakarta - It was once again a hot,
muggy day in Jakarta. The air was full of
pollutants, epic traffic jams blocking entire center
of the city. Biasa, as locals would say, or in a lax
translation, ‘business as usual’.
It is
September 29th, 2017, Friday, just one
day before the most sinister anniversary in the
entire Southeast Asia.
On
September 30th, 1965, the Indonesian
military obeying orders from foreign powers (mainly
the US and the UK), overthrew the progressive and
anti-imperialist government of
President Sukarno,
murdering between 1 and 3 million men, women and
children (including almost all members of the
Communist Party of Indonesia – PKI). This was done
with the direct help of almost all the major
religious organizations (Muslim, Protestant,
Catholic and Hindu). The bloodshed continued well
into 1966, and the “Rivers were choked with corpses
and ran red from blood,” as I was told by
Pramoedya Ananta Toer, the greatest
Indonesian novelist. All the hopes for a socialist,
just and egalitarian motherland were wasted.
Before the
coup, Indonesia used to be a true internationalist
nation, and was one of the proud founders of the
Non-Aligned Movement (the West Javanese city of
Bandung hosted its establishing conference in 1955).
President Sukarno and his progressive and patriotic
government used to hold in their hands almost all
the natural resources, trying to build a proud,
artistic and productive nation. Sukarno once even
humiliated the US Ambassador, in front of a huge
crowd, at a packed stadium: “To hell with your aid!”
He did not need any Western aid. He was presiding
overpotentially one of the richest nations on Earth.
The
Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI), the third
largest in the world after those of the Soviet Union
and China, was going to win the elections,
comfortably and democratically, in 1966, while being
fully supported by President Sukarno. Their
manifesto was clear: anti-imperialism, social
justice and land reforms. But who were some of the
largest landowners in Indonesia during that period?
Religious leaders! And they, together with the
military and corrupt elites, decided: “No!” This has
to be stopped! No justice. No internationalism. No
socialism.” They betrayed the nation and its
people;they committed treason and on September 30,
1965, overthrew socialist democracy.
The results
were horrifying. Perhaps the worst massacres of the
20th Century took place. Mass slaughter,
mass rape, and cutting off of female breasts,
torture, and shortly after the initial horrors,
overflowing prisons and concentration camps. Around
40% of all the teachers of Java were slaughtered and
the military was substituted into the school
classrooms. Film studios and traditional theatres
were shut down, and writers were sent to Buru
concentration camp. Intellectualism was fully
discouraged, while Communism, the Chinese language
and culture, but also all progressive arts and
creativity were either ridiculed, or out rightly
banned. Promoted instead, were Western-style
turbo-capitalism (that which was invented for the
colonies, not that for the local consumption in
Europe and North America), ‘religions’ (based on
repetitive rituals, not on intellectual or spiritual
search for God), ‘family values’ (read: patriarchal
oppression), an empty pop culture, and selfishness,
boosted by consumerism. All this combined gave birth
to some of the worst corruption levels in the world.
Indonesia
as it used to be before September 30, 1965, died.
Unable to produce anything of substantial value, it
began perpetrating the unbridled plunder of its own
natural resources, predominantly on behalf of
foreign conglomerates. The entire beautiful and
naturally rich, enormous islands, like Borneo (the
largest island in Asia and the second largest in the
world), Sumatra and Papua,were converted into
devastated, poisoned and fully privatized ecological
and social nightmares.
*
It seems
that killing everything decent and hopeful has not
been enough for this regime. Even memories have to
be killed, even dreams. The great progressive past
of Indonesia is being smeared and twisted, until
there is nothing more left, only confusion and
mechanical religious, family and commercial rituals.
Now, one of
the mainstream Indonesian magazines Tempo put
on its 25 September – 1 October 2017 cover: “SEKALI
LAGI HANTU PKI” (“Once Again, Ghost of PKI”).
Whenever it
suits the corrupt elites, the military and the
religious cadres (three main pillars of the
Indonesia oppressive regime), the Communist ghost is
evoked. It is depicted as a monstrous, nasty, and
murderous creature. Indonesian children were taught
that the Communist hammer was thereto smashthe heads
of the people, while the sickle was – to cut their
throats.
Islamic
organizations, as well as the military and police
are ‘guarding the nation’ from vicious atheist
religious gangs and the security forces regularly
dispersing countless meetings. Those who dare to
address topics such as social inequality, the lack
of decent medical care, affordable education,
housing and other basic services, get physically
attacked, or legally sanctioned.
MP’s and
some government officials, who dare to talk about
the necessity to redistribute the wealth of the
country, favoring the poor, get attacked or at least
openly smeared, including such individuals like the
present President,
Joko Widodo. Popular, extremely effective
and left-leaning, the Governor of Jakarta, ‘Ahok’,
was recently locked up in a prison for ‘insulting
Islam’ –on thoroughly bogus charges. His biggest
‘sin’ appeared to be his determination to build a
mass public transportation system (instead of
forcing people to use private vehicles, as all
previous pro-business administrations have been
doing, submissively), creating green public areas,
building drainage and cleaning clogged and polluted
canals.
‘Ahok’ is
of Chinese origin, a great ‘crime’ in the racially
intolerant Indonesia. President Widodo is not. No
matter what his ‘blood’ is, he is repeatedly accused
of being a ‘Communist’, especially after his State
of the Nation speech earlier this year. He has been
addressing issues related to social justice,
something thoroughly unacceptable in extremely
pro-business and pro-Western Indonesia.
Putting the
interests of his people above the interests of
foreign corporations has gained him countless
enemies, at home (from the elites servile to the
West) and abroad. His arch-rival and enemy,
General Prabowo
(former commander of the notorious Kopassus Special
Forces under Suharto) is taking full advantage of
the situation.
Many
Islamists are now calling President Widodo ‘a
Communist’. In Indonesia, it is synonymous with a
threat and it could also mean a death sentence.
*
And so it
is September 29th, 2017, Friday, in
Jakarta, Indonesia. Thousands of protesters are
gathering in front of the main gate of the
Parliament. Today it is hot and humid, and the air
is hopelessly polluted.
A river of
human beings flows slowly. Today it consists
predominantly of Muslim militants. Loudspeakers are
blasting “Allahu Akbar!” and almost
simultaneously:
“Ganyang, ganyang, ganyang PKI
Ganyang PKI, sekarang juga!”
(Destroy,
destroy, destroy PKI
Crush PKI right now!)
These are
mainly men, excited and determined. Some women are
present, too. Most of them are fully covered. And
there are also some children, clinging to their
parents, several of them scared, but others clearly
enjoying the loud yells and deafening noise.
Numerous
black banners, carrying Arabic insignia, can be
spotted in the hands of demonstrators, some
suspiciously resembling those of the ISIS. Other
flags belong to such organizations as the outlawed
but largely tolerated Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia,
which is determined to establish a caliphate all
over this vast archipelago.
Theoretically illegal but also tolerated Forum
Pembela Islam (FPI) – Islamic Defender’s Front
– is operating openly, and it is rubbing shoulders
with the police and other security forces. No one
would dare or even bothers to stop them from giving
speeches or publicly displaying force.
It is
obvious that the law is taken seriously only when it
comes to the Communists (who are now practically
non-existent in this country), or to any socially or
people-oriented movements. Radical Islam is
increasingly becoming untouchable, as it generally
defends the status quo, as well as the
political interests of several high-ranking extreme
right-wing military officers, business elites, and
Western imperialists.
I look
around and I see not a single Western reporter.
Surely they are busy sitting in their clubs, luxury
hotels and condominiums, dutifully scribbling that
Indonesia is a ‘vibrant democracy’, and ‘a country
known for its predominantly tolerant brand of
Islam’; an official Western dogma since 1965 coup.
At one
point I’m approached by a group of young men with a
small camera.
“What do
you think about PKI?” I’m asked in English.
I pretend
to be totally brain-dead. I smile. We shake hands.
“You killed
PKI here, didn’t you?” I reply with a question.
“You think
so?” they are grinning, talking to me as if I was a
child. “You really think so? You are mistaken. PKI
are like rats; they are hiding underground… they are
everywhere. But don’t worry, we will get them all,
soon!”
“Islam is a
religion of peace. Indonesians are peaceful people,”
his friend concludes. He sounds like the BBC.
*
Then it is
my turn to ask questions. I go from person to
person. I want to know what do they really know
about the PKI, about Communism? For years and
decades, Indonesians have been bombarded by
grotesque propaganda which was aiming at
discrediting everything great and positive that ever
took place in the Communist and socialist countries,
from the Soviet Union and China, to Cuba, Venezuela,
Vietnam, North Korea and dozens of other left-wing
states all over the world.
After 1965,
the perception of Indonesians about the world was
never based on knowledge and well-informed analyses,
but instead on the lowest grade of Western and local
propaganda, on racist clichés, and on the gross
censorship of everything that could challenge
official dogmas.
I talk to a
dozen “Communism-haters” and I realize that they
know absolutely nothing about the subject they are
loudly shouting about. Some are clearly paid to be
here. Some have nothing better to do. Some are,
perhaps, subconsciously scared about the emptiness
of their lives in present-day Indonesia, and they
need to cheer each other up, with hate speeches and
feelings that they are not alone, that they are like
hundreds of millions of others.
Mrs. Bode
from Gerakan Ibu Negeri (Movement of the
Country’s Mothers):
“We
are here protesting against resurgence of the
PKI!PKI is here; it exists! Their members are
all over the social media. They even held
seminars, recently.”
Some
seminars were held recently. Not by the PKI, but by
scholars and activists who were trying to address
the history of Indonesia, particularly the coup of
1965. But the military interfered. Orders were given
to break such encounters.A one-sided interpretation
of history is the main and sacred pillar of the
propaganda unleashedby the regime.
Mr. Wahnad
from Majelis Taklim Nurul Ikhlas (Islamic
studies assembly) from the city of Bekasi:
“We
are supporters of the HTI and we are against the
government regulation which bans extremist mass
organizations like ours. But PKI is real danger
to our country. We want them to be banned. Now
we even have them represented in the Parliament.
Ribka Tjiptaning, an MPs from PDIP, proudly
stated that she is a daughter of a former PKI
member!”
Poor Ms.
Ribka Tjiptaning is the daughter of a former PKI
member (and a Javanese aristocrat) who was hanged
upside-down and tortured in front of her and her
little brother (when they were children), before
being sent to a prison. Consequently, each of her
steps is being scrutinized as if under a microscope.
She is clearly left wing, perhaps the most
progressive Indonesian politician. And she wrote a
book called “I’m Proud To Be a Daughter of a PKI
Member”. But this lone socialist voice could hardly
be mistaken for a great renaissance of the Communist
thought in Indonesia.
A small,
bearded man wearing white robes introduced himself
only as Hamba Allah (Allah’s slave):
“We
are against the resurrection of PKI. They have
distributed t-shirts, pictures, and other
things, and there are even some children of the
PKI members now pushing this ideology.”
Ms.
Khairunnisa from a madrasah in Sawangan, Depok:
“We
are against the resurgence of the PKI. PKI was a
party that did some sadistic things to Muslims
in general and to Ulamas in particular.”
“Sadistic
things?” I wonder. The PKI was a relatively tame,
constitutional and democratic political party. Even
in 1965, many of its members were Muslims. Unless by
‘sadistic things’ she meant that it was pushing for
land reforms, and had it won the elections in 1966
(it definitely would have done, if the West had not
intervened), it would most definitely have broken
the scandalous and feudal mass land ownership by the
religious leaders.
“Yes,
sadistic,” Ms. Khairunnisa raises her voice.
“How do you
know?” I ask.
She replies
without hesitation:
“We
know from G30S/PKI film and also from what the
teachers told us. We haven’t read any history
books on this issue; why should we? We know
anyway…”
By
“G30S/PKI” she means an official state propaganda
film, full of gore, with which all children of
Indonesia were terrorized and shockedwith on the
anniversary of the coup. The film was directed by an
arch ‘cultural’ collaborator with the ‘New Order”
regime of General Suharto – Mr. Arifin C. Noer.
*
At one
point, I get fully covered by an enormous white flag
with Arabic script. The flag covers several lanes of
the roadway. Perhaps, as a foreigner, I’m being
shown my place, taught a lesson, but I don’t care. I
just sit down on the concrete road divider and rest
for a couple of minutes. It is cooler under the
flag, and all those aggressive, militant noises are
now mercifully muted.
‘Indonesia
is a peaceful country’, I think, sarcastically.
That’s what the West wants everybody to believe,
convincing even Indonesians themselves that it is
the case. ‘Indonesia committed three horrid
genocides after 1965 – against its own people,
against inhabitants of East Timor, and now against
Papuans. Here, I have witnessed and covered all
sorts of horrors, for decades: from the mass rapes
of Chinese women in Jakarta and Solo, to religious
violence in Ambon, Lombok and elsewhere. Even
members of most of the non-Sunni Muslim groups
(including Shia, Liberal Islam, Ahmadiyah) are
frequently attacked, even physically liquidated.
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The West
praises Indonesia, as long as the country allows its
companies to plunder the vast natural resources, in
such places as Borneo (Kalimantan), Sumatra and
Papua, as long as Indonesia remains anti-Communist,
as long as its elites – business, military and
religious – are willing to sacrifice hundreds of
millions of its defenseless, desperately uninformed
and mainly wretched citizens.
*
“Protests in front of the
Parliament were confusing. They brought the
issue of PKI awakening. But they were led by the
hardline Islamist group, HTI, which is itself
banned,” explained Iman
Soleh, a professor at the Faculty of
Social and Political Science (University of
Padjadjaran- UNPAD). He continued:
“In
the meantime, it is suspected that the
demonstrations were supported by anti Jokowi
(President Joko Widodo’s nickname) parties,
especially Gerindra and PKS… also Aksi 299 is
allegedly funded by General Prabowo group, which
always uses month of September to bring forward
the issue of ‘PKI awakening’… of course it does
it in order to weaken Jokowi’s government.”
In
Indonesia, everything appears to be confusing, even
what is and what isn’t truly Communist.
Several
months ago I met a former Indonesian Mujahedeen
fighter in Afghanistan, who barefacedly told me that
the present-day Russia is actually Communist, and so
is Assad’s government in Syria. According to him,
even the governments of Karzai and Ghani in NATO
occupied Afghanistan continue to be essentially
Communist.
In the
minds of many local people, Communist ghosts appear
to be crawling out from every corner, even from the
tiniest cracks in the floor.
Indonesia
is scared; it is clearly not at peace with itself.
It is not
really scared of “Communism”, but of something else,
although it finds very difficult to define what
exactly is frightening it.
Between 1
and 3 millions of corpses could compile an
unimaginably huge mountain of horrors. Most of the
Indonesian families have both victims and killers in
their ranks. And the killings in 1965/66 Indonesia
were not perpetrated ‘long-distance’, by pressing
some button. People were often slaughtered with bare
hands. Victims looked into the eyes of their killers
and tormenters, and they were begging, screaming,
howling.
There were
never any trials like those that took place in
Chile, Argentina or South Africa. There was no
serious reconciliation process. The military leaders
are not rotting in jail; they are actually running
the country.
In fact,
the crimes have never been acknowledged. Even worse:
the victims are still being officially blamed for
the beginning of the 1965 ‘tragedy’.
A bad
conscience is hanging over this entire enormous
archipelago. Bad conscience because of at least
three genocides committed in the last half a
century, because of selling the entire country to
foreign interests, because of the unimaginable
plunder of this once, a long time ago, beautiful and
abundant land.
Bad
conscience is being silenced by loud senseless
sounds of brainless pop music, by countless
religious rituals, and by continuous attempts not to
read anything serious, not to learn and not to
understand.
Another
anniversary of the terrible event has just passed.
And thousands took to the streets to protest against
the victims. They went to insult the memory of those
who were mercilessly slaughtered on orders coming
from the West. They went to demand that the days of
true independence and the greatness of Indonesian
nation would never return.
Andre Vltchek is
a philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative
journalist. He has covered wars and conflicts in
dozens of countries. Three of his latest books are
revolutionary novel
“Aurora”
and two bestselling works of political non-fiction:
“Exposing
Lies Of The Empire”
and “Fighting
Against Western Imperialism”.
View his other books
here.
Andre is making films for teleSUR and Al-Mayadeen.
Watch
Rwanda Gambit,
his groundbreaking documentary about Rwanda and
DRCongo. After having lived in Latin America, Africa
and Oceania, Vltchek presently resides in East Asia
and the Middle East, and continues to work around
the world. He can be reached through his website
and his
Twitter.
First
published by New Eastern Outlook.
Andre Vltchek is a
philosopher, novelist, filmmaker and investigative
journalist. He has covered wars and conflicts in
dozens of countries. Three of his latest books are
revolutionary novel
“Aurora” and two
bestselling works of political non-fiction: “Exposing
Lies Of The Empire”
and “Fighting
Against Western Imperialism”.
View his
other books
here. Andre is
making films for teleSUR and Al-Mayadeen. Watch
Rwanda Gambit, his
groundbreaking documentary about Rwanda and DRCongo.
After having lived in Latin America, Africa and
Oceania, Vltchek presently resides in East Asia and
the Middle East, and continues to work around the
world. He can be reached through his website
and his
Twitter.
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