Indonesia Heeds Communists

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31097, 28 June 1966, Page 17

Indonesia Heeds Communists

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) DJAKARTA, June 27.

Anti - Communist organisations in Djakarta are still frightened that the Indonesian Communist Party (P.K.1.) may rise from the ashes, says the Associated Press correspondent, Jeff Williams. Williams wrote: A disaster of incalculable proportions destroyed the P.K.I. Most Communist leaders are either in prison or dead—some executed after trial, some slain on the spot by their captors, some the victims of massacres. Noone knows for sure how

many Communists died in the violent wave of revulsion which swept Indonesia last October after the P.K.I. misfired in its attempt to take over the nation of 3000 islands and 105 million people. President Sukarno, who had bestowed privileges on the Communists and identified his nation with the policies of China, estimated several months ago that 87,000 Communists were slain after the coup attempt That is the most conservative estimate. Other figures run to 300,000 and more. The village of Sesetam, In Bali is just one example of the fever which swept the nation after the coup attempt Bali, normally a peaceful island, was by-passed in the first wave of killings. But on the night of December 16, horror struck as hundreds of students went on a

Hordes of young people armed with knives and clubs charged into Sesetam, wrecked homes, dragged Communist suspects out and hacked them to death. Some Communists were dragged to the river and butchered. There were no Communists left in the village after the massacre—only old people, women and children survived. Many women who had been in the party with their husbands were slain with them. Youngsters boasted of killing Communists with their own knives. Some bragged that on the island of Bali alone 100,000 were massacred. The Sesetam scene took place many times elsewhere. The Communist chief, D. N. Aidit, apparently was executed immediately upon his capture by the armed forces. Most of the other top leaders—all names to be reckoned with as powers before the i

coup attempt—were tried and executed. Many thousands were imprisoned, and many thousands of prisoners were reported to have been taken out of the prisons to be shot. The revulsion engulfed the Communist Chinese. Students sacked Chinese installations in Djakarta and many other cities. Chinese Communist buildings became prime targets for ransacking. Shortly after the coup attempt. the army issued orders outlawing the P.K.L in many areas. Today that Is not enough for anti-Communist forces in Djakarta. They want to make doubly sure. They want their new provisional congress to outlaw the party formally. There is a feeling that while the Communists were severely wounded, the wounds might not prove JJatal.