Marx's books: For few eyes only

Marx's books: For few eyes only

JAKARTA (JP): The National Library is probably the only government institution that has a collection of Karl Marx's books, but even reading them is subject to various restrictions.

For one, the books cannot be taken out of the library, the head of the National Library, Mastini Hardjoprakoso, was quoted by Antara as saying yesterday.

Anyone intending to read Das Kapital or other works by Marx as well as other books on Marxism and communism must have written permission from the Attorney General's office, Mastini said.

Even then, they have to read them in a special section of the library, under the watchful eye of a guard, she said in Semarang, where she was attending a seminar on library networking.

All books on Marxism and communism are separated from the National Library's other collections.

"We are very selective about lending these books. Not everyone can have access to them because this has to do with national security," she said.

She recalled that the library at one time even rejected requests from the Armed Forces History Center to borrow Karl Marx's books because they came without the necessary recommendation from the Attorney General's Office.

The chief of the Central Java Prosecutor's Office, Ismudjoko, told the news agency that reading the books is only permitted for research purposes.

The government banned all literary works on communism in 1966, a year after an abortive coup which was blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party. (emb)