More criticisms heaped on anticommunist groups

More criticisms heaped on anticommunist groups

JAKARTA (JP): Literary figures and critics joined on Tuesday
the chorus of verbal attacks on anticommunist groups who had
threatened to raid bookstores and burn books on communism on May
20.

"This threat to burn books, and threaten bookstore owners who
provide books on communism, blocks the rights of the general
public to freely gain information on the matter," well-known
theater figure Ratna Sarumpaet, of the Alliance for the Freedom
of Thought and Speech, said on Tuesday.

"If such a threat is ever carried out, it will be remembered
as an act to weaken minds, and in total contradiction of our
Constitution and religious teachings. Our religious teachings
state that reading is an obligation."

Ratna said that Prophet Muhammad himself had stated: "Iqra!
This means Read! To burn books therefore, is contradictory to our
own religious teachings."

Ratna demanded that security personnel take strict action
against anybody who raids bookstores or burns books.

"Those people must be stopped from preventing the people's
efforts in educating this nation," Ratna said.

The alliance comprises members from the Indonesian literary
circle, non-governmental organizations, critics, publishers and
bookstore owners.

Bookstores across Jakarta, including the country's largest
bookstore chain Gramedia, has removed dozens of leftist titles
from its shelves in response to the threats, primarily made by
the Islamic Youth Movement (GPI).

The GPI falls under the Anticommunist Coalition (AAK), a
coalition of 33 Muslim groups, which burned works by Nobel prize
nominee Pramoedya Ananta Toer, among others, last month.

GPI has said that it will raid major bookstores in the capital
on May 20 to commemorate National Awakening Day.

Also condemning the anticommunist campaign are Betawi (ethnic
native Jakartans) leaders who have urged their people not to join
any such campaign, which threatens to destroy the Tugu Tani, a
statue of a pair of farmers in Kwitang, Central Jakarta.

One of the farmers depicted in the statue has a rifle in his
arm, considered as representative of the ideology of the now-
banned Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

Chairman of the Betawi Collective Body (Bamus) Abdul Syukur
urged the Betawi community not to take part in anything aimed at
demolishing the statue.

Separately, newly installed City Police chief Insp. Gen.
Sofjan Yacob said on Tuesday that he had ordered his intelligence
personnel to call upon the leaders of the AAK, in connection with
their threat to raid bookstores and burn books on communism.

"What AAK is planning on doing, is against existing
regulations. The only body permitted to conduct raids of any
kind, is the police," Sofjan told reporters after his induction
as the new city police chief.

"On which legal basis do the GPI plan to conduct these raids?
I will not make any compromises for anything done outside the
law," Sofjan said.

He added that he would not immediately take any stern action
against the AAK, but would first try to dissuade them from
committing any illegal action.

In response, a chief of the GPI, Rachmat Hanan, said on
Tuesday that his group had nothing against being called to
"discuss matters" with the city police.

"We are ready to meet with city police officers, to discuss
what we might do ... we have no problem with that. This is a
matter of great concern to us, because it effects our own
people," Rachmat told The Jakarta Post over the phone.

"Communist teachings are being read by our young people, and
this is wrong. A lot of our youths have been trapped by this."
(ylt/jun)