T

he nationwide crackdown on activities and symbols related to communism continues. The National Police have maintained that there is no plan to contain the spread of communism or the use of communist symbolism through the organization of a “special operation”, as alleged by some activists.

“There is no such plan. It’s your choice, whether to call the recent raids and crackdown a ‘special operation’,” National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti told reporters on Monday at the headquarters of the National Police in South Jakarta.

The crackdown on communist symbolism has sparked criticism, with some activists saying that these moves put freedom of expression in jeopardy.

Asep Komaruddin, an activist with the Civil Movement for Democracy (Gema Demokrasi), said on Sunday the crackdowns on communism were systematic and widespread.

Last week, President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo ordered some of his aides, including Badrodin, Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo and National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Sutiyoso to take “a legal approach” in dealing with “the increasing number of activities related to the Indonesian Communist Party [PKI] and other leftist movements”.

But rights activists have argued that the authorities have been excessive in carrying out Jokowi’s orders.

Commenting on the matter, Badrodin said he had ordered police officers to restrict the extent of arrests and the confiscation of things related to communism, such as books and T-shirts. “We confiscated some books as a sample to convey them to the Attorney General to see whether or not the books contained communist teachings,” Badrodin said.

He added that the arrests by military officials were “incidental”, not the result of widespread, organized sweeps against communist symbolism. “They did not do anything wrong so long as they transferred the suspects to the police.”

Gatot defended the officers, arguing they had done “the right thing” by arresting people and confiscating books that promoted communism. The promotion of communism is a crime in Indonesia.

“They [the promoters of communism] violated the law,” Gatot said, citing the 1966 Decree of the People’s Consultative Assembly and the 1999 State Security Law, which is an addendum to the Criminial Code (KUHP).

As the behavior of the police inspires debate in Jakarta, a man wearing a shirt with the hammer-and-sickle logo, redolent of PKI symbolism, was apprehended by military officers in Tanjung Balai Karimun, Riau Islands, on Sunday. The city’s military chief, Lt. Col. I Gusti Ketut Arthasuyasa, said on Monday that the man, Abdul Aziz, a bellhop at a hotel, was seen wearing the shirt while watching a soccer match at Badang Perkasa stadium in Tanjung Balai Karimun.

“Based on our vetting of him, the shirt was given to the suspect by a hotel visitor as a memento,” Arthasuyasa said.

This is the second arrest conducted recently by military officers for the apparent use of communist symbolism in the province. On April 30, the military arrested Singaporean Azri Zulfarhan bin Kamsin for wearing a shirt with a hammer-and-sickle logo at the city’s Harbor Bay International Port. He had just arrived in Batam when the arrest took place. The military in Batam said it was monitoring the use of communist symbolism in the area. (mos)
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