The Press MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1975. Indonesia’s many worries

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34026, 15 December 1975, Page 16

The Press MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 1975. Indonesia’s many worries

Nearly every one of the outlying islands of Indonesia harbours malcontents who would like to secede from Jakarta. Secessionism has been latent for years—almost, indeed, since the Dutch surrendered their East Indies colony in 1949. In recent years, however, efforts towards political integration have been making progress. The West Irian uprising in 1969, the current crisis over East Timor, and the South Moluccan demand for independence—supported by the crazy hijacking of a train by terrorists in the Netherlands itself—suggest, however, that the goal of political stability may yet be far distant It is amazing, indeed, that the Government in Jakarta has managed as well as it has to enforce order, and to attend, at the same time, to far-reaching problems of industrial growth, including the development of a prosperous oil industry. President Suharto, who took office after 20 years of Communist-influenced government under President Sukarno, has proved to be a strong but tolerant leader.

Regionalism has inevitably been a major cause of conflict. In the so-called Outer Islands the Javanese have been dominant, because of their greater numbers, ever since the transfer of power. Indeed, they may be said to dominate, in a political sense, the entire archipelago. There have been two secessionist uprisings in the Outer Islands since 1950, the second, in 1957-58, being aimed at ending the Sukarno dictatorship. The Communist movement, the world’s largest outside China and Russia, had joined Sukarno in a putsch against the Army leadership. There were violent reprisals, in which many thousands of Communist Party members were killed and the party itself utterly crushed. Some hard-core members are still in detention camps in Java and some of the more remote islands. Indonesia has also had its crises between Moslems and non-Moslems. The Islamic faith claims the adherence of about 90 per cent of the population; but sentiment nevertheless remains strongly secular in character. A charter requiring all Moslems to adhere to Islamic law was drawn up as long ago as 1945, but it was never incorporated into law. Armed struggles between supporters and opponents of Dar’ul Islam (Islamic State) took place in several of the more populous islands between 1949 and 1959; but these, as in the case of the regional revolts, were rigorously suppressed by the Government in Jakarta. There is to some extent a parallel between religious conflict in Indonesia and that confronting President Marcos in the southern Philippines. But it has been pointed out that, paradoxically, the tensions in Indonesia arise not so much between Moslems and non-Moslems as between nominal and orthodox Moslems. No doubt General Suharto will find means of meeting the Communist threat in Timor, and the South Moluccan secessionist movement, without any undue use of force. The attempt to plant communism in half of Timor must be a genuine cause for anxiety in Jakarta, since legitimate Indonesian interests appear to be under threat. Whether or not General Suharto is returned to the Presidency in 1978, when an election is due, it is certain that his handling of the Timor situation will be aimed at preventing the creation of one more “ island problem ’ to add to existing complexities in maintaining order in a vast island region that lies astride strategic sea routes.