Communist putsch riddle

Communist putsch riddle

I am highly disturbed by the article from Prijono
Tjiptoherijanto in The Jakarta Post on Jan. 28, titled Some
things never change despite changes in regime.

The author presents a misleading view about the history of the
Oct. 1, 1965, putsch and its tragic aftermath in which up to
three million people were murdered and tens of thousands were
imprisoned. Millions of Indonesian women and men are still
suffering from the consequences of one of largest genocides after
the World War II. They either lost their parents or spouses, were
expelled from or never admitted to educational institutions.
Thousands lost all their property without compensation or were
denied their pensions.

Tjiptoherijanto suggests that the mystery surrounding this
tragedy has been perpetuated by the kind refusal of General
Soeharto to have former president Sukarno questioned. In fact,
the greatest mystery surrounds not so much the murder of the
generals on the Air Force training field at Lubang Buaya, which
started the massacre and witch-hunt that led to the displacement
of president Sukarno by General Soeharto.

Sukarno's role, which was minimal if he played a role in the
original putsch at all, as well as the role of the Indonesian
Communist Party (PKI), which was limited to the involvement of
some leaders and members of Pemuda Rakyat (People's Youth), have
been extensively discussed. Manai Sophiaan's book provides
probably the most accurate assessment of Sukarno's role.

The major riddle is the role of Soeharto himself. It is clear
that he knew in advance of plans for the putsch. He never
reported this to his superiors at the time. Instead he quickly
took command, overriding the orders of the legitimate president
at the time to crush the very modest forces the putschists had
been able to rally round their cause.

In an unprecedented slanderous media campaign that started a
few days after the bodies of the murdered military men were
found, the blame was laid on the Communist Party, and
particularly on the socialist women's movement, Gerwani. Army
sources spread the most horrendous lies that girls related to
Gerwani would have seduced and castrated the generals. These lies
were used to incite soldiers and members of mass organizations
such as Ansor, to carry out a campaign of mass murder against
anybody with a leftist reputation.

The precise number of victims is unknown, most of the mass
graves have never been opened. None of the perpetrators of this
genocide have ever been brought to justice.

In view of the mass character of this campaign, it is one of
the modern world's largest mysteries as to who was behind it. In
my thesis on the history of the Indonesian women's movement and
Gerwani, I was not able to answer this question. In my later
novel, Lubang Buaya (literally "crocodile's hole"), I could only
speculate as to how this conspiracy to replace president Sukarno
through a campaign of sexual slander and mass murder was
conceived.

SASKIA WIERINGA
The Hague, Holland