'Leftist' books safe as planned raids canceled

JAKARTA (JP): Members of the Anti-Communist Coalition (AAK) made visits to a number of major bookstores here on Saturday, but the alliance did not act on its earlier threat to raid them for leftist titles on Sunday.

AAK visited the Jakarta branches of well-known bookstores on Saturday to thank them for removing leftist books from their shelves in response to the group's threats.

"We would like to express our gratitude to Gunung Agung and Gramedia bookstores for heeding the people's demand positively by withdrawing books regarded as leftist," AAK secretary-general Naufal Dunggio was quoted by Koridor.com as saying.

Meanwhile, Suaib Didu, the chairman of the Islamic Youth Movement (GPI), a part of AAK, said on Sunday that his organization did not conduct any searches on Sunday as it had earlier warned because the bookstores here had removed the books on communism from their shelves.

"For this, we are thankful," Suaib told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.

Earlier, anticommunist groups had warned bookstore owners here that they would conduct major searches for leftist books displayed on their shelves on National Awakening Day, which fell on Sunday.

The groups had earlier threatened to burn any leftist titles found in the stores.

Suaib said GPI members had been checking bookstores since May 2, 2001. "When we found any leftist titles, we neither burned them nor confiscated them. We bought them."

He noted that since May 2, GPI members had bought some 20 books from Jakarta bookstores.

When asked if his members had burned the books, Suaib said his members studied them instead.

"We need to know which books need to be republished, and which do not. If they are republished, then we have to decide if they should be for sale, or just for students at schools or universities. These are some of the questions AAK needs to find out," Suaib said.

He added that regardless of the results AAK made from its research, it would hand over the results to the National Police Headquarters and the Attorney General's Office.

A group comprising authors, poets, journalists and activists staged a rally at the Proclamation Monument on Sunday to protest the campaign against the books. Participants included Franz Magnis-Suseno, Sapardi Djoko Damono, Fikri Jufri, Sabam Siagian, Ratna Sarumpaet and Nono Anwar Makarim.

Meanwhile, the chairman of Betawi Youth Forum, Rahmat H.S., said the search for books on communism would continue, and he urged the National Police to seize them.

"We are not bluffing. We will continue the search for these books," Rahmat told the Post. Betawi Youth Forum is also a member of the AAK alliance.

Rahmat added that the alliance had sent a letter to National Police chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro advising him to order the books seized, which he claimed were in violation of the 1966 People's Consultative Assembly's decree on the banning of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) and its ideologies.

He said the alliance had given the police seven days to take "stern action against bookstore owners selling leftist books".

However, he said, before conducting the search, members of the alliance would have a dialog on Saturday with people whom the alliance considered as "leftist", such as philosopher Franz Magnis-Suseno and political scientist Hermawan Sulistyo.

Franz's book, titled Pemikiran Karl Marx (Thoughts of Karl Marx), and Hermawan's Palu Arit (Hammer and Sickle), were among the books earlier burned by members of the alliance.

City police chief Insp. Gen. Sofjan Yacob said on Saturday that he had instructed the heads of Jakarta police stations to deploy personnel around major bookstores across the capital to prevent any security disturbances.

"My intelligence officers also summoned two GPI members, and had a chat with them. In short, we told them not to take any harsh action against the general public, or do anything to provoke chaos," Sofjan said on Saturday.

Meanwhile in Batam, Riau, bookstores are reportedly cashing in on the sudden interest of "leftist" books.

A store keeper at Lucky Media book store said books such as Revolusi Indonesia by Franz Magnis Suseno, Catatan Revolusi Rakyat by Che Guevara, Kronik Revolusi Indonesia and Rumah Kaca's Pramudya Ananta Toer were selling well.

"We're still displaying them because many people look for them," storekeeper Anwar said on Saturday.

He added that between two to four such books were sold each day.

Barelang Police Detective chief Adj. Comr. Bahagia Dachi said police are on alert but doubts if anti-communist groups plan to do anything in Batam.

"We have not found any indication of the AAK groups operating here," he told the Post on Saturday. (26/ylt/jun)