Anticommunist paranoia

Kornelius Purba, Staff Writer, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
korpur@yahoo.com

Soeharto remains an undisputed genius in his ability to brainwash nearly the entire nation into believing without reserve his regime's version of the abortive coup on Sept. 30, 1965.

According to the New Order version of this incident, the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) was behind the murder of six military generals and one Army captain in Lubang Buaya, East Jakarta, and the attempt to topple then president Sukarno.

Until now, the nation still regards communism as the country's foremost enemy. An ordinary former PKI member is regarded as more hazardous to the country than major corruptors and those who plunder the state coffers.

The government, religious leaders and major political parties have no real interest in reopening history, although deep in their hearts they may suspect that much of the available historical version of the coup attempt was fabricated to strengthen Soeharto's political grip.

Abdurrahman Wahid will be remembered as the first Indonesian president -- if not the only -- with the courage to call for a reopening of the historical facts surrounding the coup attempt. He caused anger in 2000 when he changed the name of Pancasila Sanctity Day -- commemorated every Oct. 1 -- to Pancasila Betrayal Remembrance Day.

Even before becoming president in 1999, as chairman of the country's largest Muslim organization, the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), Abdurrahman repeatedly apologized for the role of NU members in the massacre of PKI members following the coup attempt.

Sukarno was clearly portrayed by Soeharto as being implicated in the coup attempt and was humiliatingly ousted from power -- yet his daughter President Megawati Soekarnoputri was only bold enough to skip last year's annual commemoration of the tragedy at the Lubang Buaya Monument on Oct. 1.

The now-much doubted version of the tragedy is still commemorated nationwide. Even today, participants in Oct. 1 ceremonies are directed to pray for the victims of PKI brutalities.

One also gets the impression that the minister of religious affairs, when leading the prayers at such ceremonies, does not feel it important also to pray for the PKI members to ask for God's forgiveness, if indeed they were responsible for all the evil acts they are accused of committing. Maybe the minister believes it useless to pray for the PKI members.

In the 1960s many people joined the PKI because they were ordered to by their superiors; many farmers became members because they were promised fertilizer. Many people had to join the party because they had no choice, like workers at state-owned companies.

To certain extent, this same membership recruitment practice was also employed by the former ruling Golkar Party. Ask people now and many of them will say they had no choice but join the party during Soeharto's rule.

In The Mute's Soliloquy by author Pramoedya Ananta Toer, which tells of his 12-year detention without trial on Buru island for being an alleged PKI activist, we find a letter to his eldest daughter, Pujarosmi: "If a person cannot free himself from three- dimensional time -- from either the past, the present, or the future -- how must this be viewed? As God's gift or His curse?"

The Sept. 30 tragedy was likely the bloodiest episode in Indonesia following its independence. At least 500,000 former PKI members or suspected members, their families and friends were slaughtered throughout the country. Hundreds of thousands of people were jailed for years without trial because of their PKI membership, or simply because someone accused them of being PKI members. Many families until now do not know the fates of their loved ones.

Much has been written about how many western countries, particularly the United States, were deeply involved in the tragedy and in the toppling of Sukarno because he was seen as too close to the communists. Such countries kept silent for decades, and only shifted to become champions of human rights after the fall of communism in Eastern Europe.

The nation needs to find the real truth behind the tragedy. The PKI was not an innocent party. During their heyday they also abused power to eliminate political enemies. They also should be punished. But how many PKI cases have been brought to the courts? Only the courts should issue verdicts, although we also know that judges under Soeharto would blindly follow the government's order to cleanse any suspected communist elements.

Is it true that communism is more damaging now to the nation than those who steal state money, who irresponsibly exploit the country's assets to fulfill their hunger for power and money?

Is it also civilized that Soeharto is so easily forgiven, without a court decision, while we pretend not to know about those jailed for years without trial just because they were suspected of being communists?

The communist issue today remains an effective way to silence people or groups who oppose those in power. Let us reopen history with honesty, not with prejudice or a sense of revenge.