Communism much alive: General

JAKARTA (JP): Military intelligence has found that communism is very much alive in Indonesia and is supported by former members of the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), according to a senior officer of the Armed Forces (ABRI).

Maj. Gen. Syarwan Hamid, assistant to the ABRI chief of socio- political affairs, said on Saturday that the PKI has undergone a "metamorphosis".

"Military intelligence and socio-political analysis, including facts found in several regions, indicate that the PKI is alive and has metamorphosed into many forms," Syarwan said.

The changes of form make detecting the communists' activities difficult, he added.

As an example of the new forms taken by the PKI, he pointed to the recent arrest of a number of former communists in Central Java, whom the military said had been reviving the old cause of an Islamic state in Indonesia.

Syarwan said that 13 non-governmental organizations, under the "pretense of defending the people and democracy", had also been using methods "similar to those used by the PKI". He did not name the organizations concerned.

President Soeharto has warned that certain "formless" organizations have been propagating communist teachings in the guise of concern for human rights and democracy, preying on young people in particular. ABRI leaders have also warned that remnants of the PKI and its supporters have become active again.

The PKI was banned in March 1966, some six months after an abortive coup which the Army blamed on the party.

Most of the thousands of former PKI members who were detained in the aftermath of the ban were released in the late 1970s. Two men accused of supporting the coup, former deputy prime minister Soebandrio and former Air Force commander Omar Dhani, were only released in August this year.

Syarwan said organizational metamorphosis was a "classic communist technique used by the PKI to rebuild its strength". He said that the communist party had betrayed the nation twice previously, in 1926 and in 1948, each time managing to return to the political scene.

Approach

"The PKI always changes its strategic approach in dealing with different people or organizations," he said.

In the old days, the PKI infiltrated Islamic organizations, including the Sarekat Islam and the Nahdlatul Ulama, he said.

Syarwan denied that ABRI was being overcautious or obsessive about the possibility of a communist resurgence, which he said, " is better than having to bear the consequences of failing to anticipate the communist threat."

"If you've got a cancer on your foot, you can still have it amputated. But if the cancer spreads and attacks your throat, you then have to have your throat amputated," he explained.

Syarwan was speaking at a seminar organized by Fosko 66, a loose forum grouping former student leaders who took to the streets in 1966 to demand the disbandment of the PKI for its role in the coup the previous year. The street protests also led to the downfall of president Sukarno and helped bring Gen. Soeharto to power.

Eky Syahrudin, one of the student leaders, told the seminar that the best way to prevent a resurrection of communism in Indonesia is to address the social inequity that still exists.

"Communism grows in a socially and politically unequal society," he said.

"Monopolies, though unintentionally a part of the country's current economic system, have to be abolished. There should be equal opportunity for people to do business."

Bambang Suharto, a former student activist and now a member of the National Commission on Human Rights, underlined the importance of better communications among the country's leaders.

Bambang said he detected reluctance on the part of officials when it came to telling their superiors bad news. The phenomenon may also exist among cabinet ministers, he added.

"I wonder whether our top officials have the courage to tell bad news to the President," he said. (imn)