Nation renews vow to defend Pancasila ideology

Nation renews vow to defend Pancasila ideology

JAKARTA (JP): It was a brief but solemn ceremony at the Lubang
Buaya Museum in East Jakarta yesterday, but it had deep meaning
for those present.

"We are committed and resolved to defend and implement
Pancasila," read Ismail Hasan Metareum, the deputy speaker of the
House of Representatives, during the ceremony led by President
Soeharto.

There were no speeches, just the reading of the preamble to
the 1945 Constitution by Minister of Education and Culture
Wardiman Djojonegoro, the saying of prayers led by Minister of
Religious Affairs Tarmizi Taher and the vow read out by Ismail
Hasan.

Every year on Oct. 1, the same vow is repeated at the same
ceremony. It is a recognition of the sanctity of Pancasila, the
five principles of the state ideology.

That particular date was chosen because it marks the victory
of the ideology over communism. On Oct. 1., 1965, the Army, led
by a young Maj. Gen. Soeharto, foiled a coup attempt by the
Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) launched the night before. He
prevailed.

On the night of Sept. 30, the coup perpetrators abducted six
Army generals, later dumping their badly mutilated bodies into a
disused well in the Lubang Buaya district. An Army captain was
also killed and buried in the same way.

The coup leaders claimed they were acting to protect President
Sukarno because the generals were planning to grab power. The
Army said this was a pretext for the communist leaders to grab
power for themselves.

Now the seven Army officers have been immortalized. Their
statues stand atop the Lubang Buaya museum whose walls hold
dioramas of the events surrounding the date Oct. 1, 1965.

The seven officers -- Achmad Yani, D.I. Panjaitan, Sutoyo, MT
Haryono, Soeprapto, S. Parman and T. Tendean -- have been
conferred the honorable title of "Revolutionary Heroes".

Their widows, children and grandchildren were all present at
the ceremony yesterday. And Soeharto and First Lady Mrs. Tien
took the trouble to meet with them and speak some comforting
words.

The two men whose information led to the discovery of the
bodies on Oct. 4, 1965, were present and Soeharto also took the
time to chat briefly with them.

They were Sukitman, a retired police officer, and Omon, a
truck driver.

Sukitman said he was doing street patrol on Oct. 1, 1965, when
he came across a truck that was carrying one of the kidnapped
generals. The armed kidnappers ordered him at gun point to board
the truck and he was taken to Lubang Buaya. He managed to escape
to tell the story to Army officers.

Omon recalled that his truck was stopped at dawn on Oct. 1 by
a group of soldiers who turned out to be among the coup
perpetrators. He was shoved into the back of the truck. He
recalled that a number of generals were later pushed into the
truck as well. He too subsequently managed to escape to tell his
story. (emb)