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Commemorating 1965 in election year: New regime, old formula
The level of trauma following mass persecution and killings in the aftermath of the abduction and murders of six generals and a low-ranking military member on Sept. 30, 1965, will lead to further manipulation by those among the political elite whenever they see fit.
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Invincible: People visit the Pancasila Sakti Monument in East Jakarta on Monday to commemorate Pancasila Sanctity Day. (The Jakarta Post/Charisa Vanessa G)
E
very year, generally around September and October, we have the same debate concerning the revival of communism and communists in Indonesia. As the most anticipated election since 2014 approached, we saw how this old issue could still gain momentum in 2019.
The level of trauma following mass persecution and killings in the aftermath of the abduction and murders of six generals and a low-ranking military member on Sept. 30, 1965, will lead to further manipulation by those among
the political elite whenever they see fit.
By October last year, amid heated debates regarding the “communist revival”, the National Resilience Institute (Lemhanas) released a statement that communist sympathy had never been proven and was always used by the political elite in election years — a strong claim from a government institute.
But communism, regardless of its textbook definition, has always been successfully and creatively reproduced in Indonesian politics. Summoning up the darkest memories of the past — when many said they were told they had to kill or be killed by suspected leftists — remains the most effective political tool.
After the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) was disbanded and banned by Soeharto’s government, the trauma, including the need under the past regime to constantly have to prove that oneself and one’s family is “clean” from leftist associations, for instance in job applications, keeps being injected into Indonesia’s political discourse.
In September 2017 and again in 2018, before commemorating the anniversary of the Sept. 30 coup attempt that was blamed on the PKI, Indonesian Military commanders at the time gave instructions to all military members and strongly recommended that all citizens watch (again) Pengkhianatan Gerakan 30 September/PKI (The Treachery of the Sept. 30 Movement/PKI), a propaganda film released in 1984.
