Maintain the decree on communism: MUI

Maintain the decree on communism: MUI

JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) called on
the government and the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR) to
uphold the 34-year-old ban of communist teaching.

The council's chairman, Amidhan, said the public discourse on
whether to revoke the decree should stop because it has sparked
confusion among Muslims, who make up some 80 percent of the
country's 210 million population.

"Communist associations should be banned in Indonesia because
they promote atheism. MUI will never compromise with anything
linked to communism or Marxism," he said in a press conference on
Thursday.

The Provisional MPR, the highest law making body, issued a
decree slapping a ban on communism in its special session in
1966. The decree remains in effect.

Indonesia declared war on communism after an abortive coup
attempt that was blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party in
1965.

But more than three decades later, in an interview with the
state-run channel TVRI, President Abdurrahman Wahid said he
welcomed attempts to reopen the coup case.

Abdurrahman himself has repeatedly apologized for the
involvement of followers of Nahdlatul Ulama -- a Muslim
organization he himself led for 15 years before being elected
president last October -- for their participation in the
bloodshed.

Amidhan said the government and the Assembly should take
strict measures against all sides which have organized public
discussions on communism on the grounds that they have created
confusion among the Muslim people.

He pointed out that the now unlawful communist party was
behind the split of Muslim organizations and parties in the 1950s
and 1960s.

Undecided

Meanwhile, the Bishop Council of Indonesia (KWI) and the
Communion of Churches in Indonesia (PGI) have yet to issue their
official stand on the problem, saying that talks on communism do
not top their list of priorities.

Father Notobudyo, KWI's executive secretary, said Indonesian
bishops have not yet joined in the debate and do not intend to.

Rev. Soelarso Sopater, PGI Chairman, concurred with this,
saying the matter was not included in the agenda of its grand
synod in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, which is still
underway.

According to his own views on the matter, the government
should leave the issue to the people and let them decide on
whether to revoke the anticommunism decree or not.

"Even if it is abolished, the communist party will not become
established in Indonesia if the people reject it," he said.
Citing as an example, he stated that Italy, France and the
Netherlands were tolerant of the communist party but that it
never really developed into a powerful political movement because
it failed to win support from the citizens of those countries.

In a related development, around 50 youths from the Forum for
Reform Enforcement staged a demonstration at the Home Ministry
compound, demanding the president to discharge Indonesian Banking
Restructuring Agency (BPPN) Chief Cacuk Sudarijanto because the
latter's father, Mulyono Datu Siswanto, was involved in PKI's
Sept. 30, 1965 abortive coup.

"We protest Cacuk's appointment because we have accurate data
telling us that his father was linked to the banned communist
party and involved in the abortive coup," said a demonstrator.

The National Defender Movement (GPK) said Cacuk should resign
because IBRA managing state assets worth trillions of rupiah
could not be led by an official linked to the communist party.

"We do not fear a communist revival, but do believe that BPPN
should be free of its influence," GPK Chairman Hamdan said. (rms)