Soesilo: Be alert but don't panic about communism

JAKARTA (JP): Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Soesilo Soedarman yesterday urged the public to stay vigilant, but not to panic, over recent official warnings about a possible communist resurgence.

The recent announcement by the Armed Forces (ABRI) of three men accused of being behind some of the recent unrest was intended to serve as a warning, Soesilo said.

There was no cause for panic, he added.

"The announcement on the presence of formless organizations, including their leaders, was a warning for the people to increase vigilance over new forms of communism," he said after attending a ceremony to honor senior statesmen at the headquarters of Golkar, the ruling political group.

"People should remain calm, open their eyes wide, and immediately report to security officials if they find weird things occurring in their surroundings," he added.

ABRI Chief of General Affairs Lt. Gen. Soeyono on Monday identified author Pramoedya Ananta Toer, scholar George Junus Aditjondro and labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan as being among the people behind recent acts of provocation that the military had blamed on "formless organizations".

Muchtar, leader of the Indonesian Prosperous Labor Union, and George, who is now a fugitive in Australia, have both denied being communists.

Pramoedya was once leader of Lekra, a cultural organization associated with the Indonesian Communist Party, in the 1960s. Last month he received the Philippines-originated Magsaysay award for journalism and literature.

The military and the government said these invisible organizations were the metamorphosis of the Indonesian Communist Party which has been banned since 1966.

Soeyono's decision to go public with the three names has stirred controversy, with friends and supporters of those accused saying that he may have violated the principles of the presumption of innocence. A number of senior justices have also regretted the announcement.

When asked to comment on the debate, Soesilo said yesterday that Soeyono must bear the responsible for his statement and the impact it might have. "Every official has to be responsible for what he or she has said," he said.

He declined to answer reporters' questions about the exact number of people suspected of masterminding the formless organizations' activities.

"You should ask Soeyono that question," he said.

Soesilo stressed that those involved in any riot or social unrest, or played some role in those incidents should be punished.

President Soeharto and other senior government and military officials earlier blamed some of the recent social unrests on "formless organizations" whose acts of provocation were of similar patterns of the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party.

Minister of Justice Oetojo Oesman on Thursday said that the term "formless organizations" was not a military invention. The phrase was used by communist party leaders to appeal to its members and supporters to continue with their struggle after the party was outlawed. (imn)