Betawi people told not to destroy statue of farmers

JAKARTA (JP): Betawi leaders urged people on Tuesday not to join an anti-communist campaign to destroy Tugu Tani (a statue depicting a farmer couple) in Kwitang, Central Jakarta.

Chairman of the Betawi Collective Body (Bamus), Abdul Syukur, told Betawi people not to take the law into their own hands by destroying the statue.

"We earlier agreed that Betawi people should avoid violence and civil unrest. So we disagree with anyone who wants to destroy the statue," Syukur said.

The Anti-Communist Alliance (AAK), which consists of several Muslim "hardline" organizations and Pemuda Betawi (Betawi Youth), announced the campaign, marking it with the burning of several leftist books. They also threatened to destroy the statue.

The statue was designed by the Russian sculptors, Matvei Menizer and his son Otto Menizer, who were invited by former president Sukarno after the latter's visit to Moscow in the 1950s.

The farmer with a long gun in his arm was considered symbolic of the now-banned Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

Syukur said Bamus, a grouping of Betawi native organizations, never discussed the anti-communist campaign, let alone a plan to destroy the statue.

He said that Bamus did not recognize any group which claimed to be Betawi Youth or any organization that joined the anti- communist campaign.

"There are so many groups claiming to represent Betawi people. We don't know them," he said.

Separately, another Betawi leader, Budiyatna, supported Syukur's statement, saying that Betawi Youth joined the anti- communist campaign to destroy the statue only because they misunderstood the issue.

"We should admire farmers because they provide us with food, rather than attempt to destroy this statue," said Budiyatna, who is a professor of communication at the University of Indonesia.

If they really destroyed the statue, they would just be adopting similar practices to the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), in the same way the New Order regime had also done, he said.

Budiyatna claimed that people from the New Order regime, in particular the Golkar Party, were behind the anti-communist campaign so as to avoid revealing their own past mistakes during the 32 years when former Soeharto was in power.

"Golkar had been behind the campaign to cover their mistakes. Some people, including Betawi people have not yet realized it," he said.

He said that the fear of communism was no longer relevant as the ideology had died here as well as in its origin country, the former Soviet Union.

AAK's secretary M. Nofal Dunggio told Kompas daily on Monday that they had asked the authorities to destroy the statue, which they considered a communist symbol.

The alliance threatened to destroy the statue by themselves if the authorities refused to fulfill their demands.

The City Park Agency chief, Dadang Ruskandar, whose office oversees statues and parks, refused to comment on the threats.

"Let it be handled by the Social and Political Agency. I have no comments on the matter," Dadang told reporters on Tuesday.

AAK had also pledged to remove leftist books in bookstores on National Awakening Day on May 20.

Due to the threats, some big bookstores have withdrawn the targeted books from their shelves. (jun)