'Leftist' books safe as planned raids canceled

'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)