Rings on a tree trunk (The Economist, 6 November 1965)

=== [PDF page 1] === 594 INDONESIA Rings on a tree trunk FROM A SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT Fakarta VERYWHERE in Indonesia the communists are on the run. E Inspired by the army, the anti-communist campaign has now developed a powerful momentum of its own. Public excitement is sustained by raids on offices of the Indonesian Communist party (PKI), the arrest of anyone suspected of being involved in the unsuccessful coup of September 30th, and: by resentful rumours linking the coup with Peking. The general mood reveals itself in the acts of arson against property belonging to the PKI or to the Beparki (the party of the local Chinese community) and in the wall scribblings that are so traditional a feature of Indonesian political life. Accustomed to having their news controlled, Indonesians tend to accept at face value the official news now being churned out by the army. The arrest of 26 correspondents working for the tight news monopoly, the Antara News Agency, has purged all communist influence from the news media. But there seems to be some solidity in the reports that the Council of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has settled itself in public esteem while the communist party and its associates (who, until September 30th, were the country’s most influential policy-makers) have been cast cut as traitors. So long as the army can keep the initiative and maintain its image as the rescuer of President Sukarno and the Indonesian revolution, Peking-brand communism will probably remain disgraced. Major-General Suharto, the new army commander, and the tough Siliwangi regiment he used in crushing the coup are the current idols of a people prone to hero worship. The army’s new habit of wearing white ribbons on their left epaulettes—signifying their anti-communist fervour—is being followed by thousands of public officials and also by private citizens. The three white ribbons have come to symbolise personal innecence, the purity of the revolution and hostility to Peking. Wall scribblings, always a fair index of public excitement, tell the history of these past few weeks as eloquently as the rings on a tree trunk. The slogans daubed on earlier by the communists such as “ Ganjang Kabir ” (chew the capitalist bureaucrats) or “‘ Hidup PKI” (long live the PKI) were swiftly added to during the few hours of Colonel Untung’s abortive rule with “ Gantung Dewan General” (hang the council of generals). But a few hours after the conspiracy failed, these slogans were angrily scratched out and replaced by such war-cries as “ Bubarkan PKI” (ban the PKI) and “Gantung Untung” (hang Untung). Two days later a new crop of graffiti attacked Mr Aidit, the Communist party leader, in words that showed that the Nahdatul Ulama party of the Moslems had come full force into the streetfight. As the days passed, and Dr Sukarno still did not ban the communist party, the scribblings became wilder: “ Gerwani Tjabol” (the women’s wing of the PKI are whores) and “ Aidit Pahlawan Nekolim” (Aidit is the champion of the neocolonists, colonialists and imperialists). For Mr Aidit and his party the wheel had come full circle. Then came the “ temporary suspension” of the PKI and its affiliates. The slogans relaxed with “Hidup ABRI ” (long live the chiefs of Staff). Where is Mr Aidit? Is he alive or dead or abroad? Everyone has his pet theory. A senior army officer whispered knowingly that of course Aidit had been captured on the very first day and was being kept under wraps. How else but through his confession had the army got on the track of the Peking agent who had jumped off the 15th floor of the Hotel Indonesia to escape interrogation? Popular suspicion that he was skulking in the Chinese embassy in Jakarta triggered off a public demonstration there but, contrary to SP Aosinets tenn nna Captured communists bound for fakarta jails what was said by Peking, there were no shots fired although some soldiers banged their rifle butts against the railings to release their spleen. Another widespread belief is that Aidit was killed by the men who arrested him in their anger over the butchering of the seven generals. Many army and police officers seem to assume that Aidit is in hiding in central Java, where the hunt has been intensified and villages are being beaten in rings as though the army was after a man-eating tiger. On Monday, President Sukarno declared central Java to be in a “ state of war.” But the most likely explanation is that the Communist party’s politburo is following the classic Leninist tactics for use in adversity. A surface front is being maintained by the two ministers in the coalition government, Mr Lukman and Mr Njoto, who have even attended cabinet meetings since the coup; and an undercover movement is trying to rally their broken ranks. Mr Aidit, according to this theory, has gone underground. Army intelligence, now almost as adept in Leninist strategy as the communists, expect a counter-offensive to start this month. They foresee guerrilla activity in the hills and sabotage in the cities. Hence military pressure on the president to proscribe the PKI permanently so that all communist activities can be treated as treason. A party once banned in Indonesia has never been pardoned in whatever form it has tried to reappear. General Suharto has placed the verbatim record of Colonel Untung’s confession before the president, apparently with no comments of his own in order to maintain his reputation for objectivity. Colonel Untung, so it is said, was so chagrined by the lack of support for his coup that he told all—although he may have embroidered the story here and there to minimise his own part in it. The army believes that if President Sukarno acts on the evidence of this confession, net only the communists in the cabinet but also the foreign minister, Dr Subandrio, will have to be indicted. The writing on the wall put this succinctly on October 18th: SuBANdrio and AiDIT are the puppets of Peking, it said. With the might of army pressure against him, Dr Subandrio might have to go, as Air Marshal Omar Dani, the communist com- -mander of the air force, has had to go. Dr Subandrio is distrusted by the army, the Partai Socialis intellectuals, the Moslem Ulama party and apparently even by the PKI leaders, who have spoken of his value as a possible Kerensky in their plans for the future. So far, President Sukarno has been grimly protecting his foreign minister, though he has been reported removed from his job as head of the security service. It would be a serious error to assume that all this points to a revulsion in Indonesia against socialism or communist ideas. The wiser reading would be that doctrinaire communism from Peking, together with its tactics, has blunted itself against Indonesian nationalism in the same way as classical capitalism did against the nationalism of most of post-war Asia. Indonesian socialism is too deeply ingrained in the blood and bone of the people, including the army, to be abandoned. puihsin eimai i ir Wale einen inimaiimeienellaiiitM A tm ot === [PDF page 2] === "Rings on a tree trunk." Economist, 6 Nov. 1965, p. 594. The Economist Historical Archive, link.gale.com/apps/doc/ GP4100795608/GDCS?u=columbiau&sid=bookmark-GDCs. Accessed 17 Oct. 2026.