ABRI again warns of communism

JAKARTA (JP): The Armed Forces (ABRI) renewed its warning of a possible communist revival in Indonesia, saying the threat was real, not imaginary as some people claimed.

Although the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) has been eliminated and banned, its ideology is still very much alive, ABRI Chief Gen. Feisal told a seminar on Saturday, which was held to mark the 31st anniversary of the crushing of a PKI coup plot.

The communist ideology can never be totally destroyed because it is not "a perishable material" but a fruit of human thought, Feisal said.

Tomorrow, the nation commemorates Pancasila Sanctity Day, which marks the victory of the state ideology in the face of the Sept. 30, 1965 communist coup attempt.

Government and military officials mark the occasion every year by warning people of the latent dangers of a communist revival.

Feisal noted with concern that some people, mostly the young, are skeptical of such warnings, especially now that the communist ideology has been discarded by the country that first adopted it, an apparent reference to communist Soviet Union.

He cited four chief reasons to support the military theory that the latent dangers remain in Indonesia: communism is still alive in China, Cuba and North Korea; communism continues to be the antithesis to capitalism; there are remnants of PKI cadres at home and abroad still obsessed with making a comeback in one form or another; the economic disparity in Indonesia makes it an ideal target for communist attacks.

The one-day seminar, which also featured State Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports Hayono Isman, was organized by Yayasan Dharma Pena Indonesia, a foundation set up by political journalists and analysts.

The seminar was attended by about 200 participants from various youth organizations.

Concern

Hayono said many young Indonesians who were born after 1965 did not share the same concern about the dangers of communism because they did not experience the betrayal of the PKI.

Feisal warned the youths that communism exploits class conflicts and manipulates sensitive political issues such as human rights, democracy and the environment to achieve its goals.

He said the Democratic People's Party (PRD) is an example of a metamorphosis of the PKI.

The PRD has been blamed for the massive riot in Central Jakarta on July 27. Following the arrests of its leaders and members, the military said it found documents that suggested similarities in structure and methods between the PRD and PKI.

Feisal said military intelligence also discovered that besides changing in form, the PKI remnants will likely link up with other extreme organizations to further its goals.

Remnants of the PKI would also use peaceful and humanitarian overtures to draw the sympathies of the intelligentsia, something they would not do if they were in power.

"When in power, they don't recognize peace or humanitarianism. They are no longer friends. For them, the main thing is that they have achieved their goals," he said.

"Communists do not have eternal friends or eternal enemies. They only have eternal interests.

"In the name of these interests, communists will do anything. Their methods can range from the softest, by pretending to adhere to democracy, to the most violent and inhuman ones such as revolution, radicalization and dehumanization," he said.

"For the last 30 years, the PKI has used peaceful propaganda in its activities to remain in existence," Feisal said.

Feisal stressed that the phrase "organization without form", popularly known by its Indonesian acronym OTB, is not a military creation, but was first coined by the PKI itself.

The use of the term by the military to refer to the underground activities of the PKI in the last 30 years had been questioned by linguistic experts.

"If the term 'OTB' is considered as violating grammatical rules, this is understandable, because the PKI never learned to use Bahasa Indonesia properly and correctly," he said, evoking laughter from the crowd. "The only language the PKI knows is the language of power and opportunity to steamroll and eliminate friends and foes," Feisal said.

"I think it is naive that some people received the warning given by ABRI a while ago about the dangers of OTB with contempt," he said, recalling that some people translated OTB into Omomg Tanpa Bukti (To accuse without evidence). (16)