Without an official permit, freedom of speech activists were waving a red flag at the bull when they pressed ahead with the Turn Left Festival at the state-owned Ismail Marzuki Cultural Center in February.

The provocative theme, '€œResist the New Order propaganda'€, and the equally anger-provoking titles of books to be launched, such as The History of the Leftist Movement in Indonesia, Marxism for Beginners and Militarism for Beginners, as listed in the flyers were predictable enough to generate a backlash.

In Indonesia, anything '€œleftist'€ is generally associated with communism, Marxism and Leninism '€” the ancient ideologies that old-school military, political and religious leaders deem '€œdangerous'€ although the three have lost any relevance after the the Soviet Union crumbled.

Communism became public enemy No. 1 during a deadly, but botched coup attempt in 1965 that was blamed on the now defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) and the following purge that left more than 500,000 suspected communist supporters dead.

So persistent is the perceived ideological danger that Indonesia remains adamant in keeping a 1965 decree issued by the Provisional People'€™s Consultative Assembly (MPRS). Then president Abdurrahman '€œGus Dur'€ Wahid (1999 to 2001) and proponents of reformasi had unsuccessfully tried to rescind it.

Until today, '€œleft wing'€ and '€œleftist'€ are misperceived as representing a force that threatens the legitimate government and those leaders seem to refuse to change their old-fashioned perception about the terms that originally referred to the seating arrangements in France'€™s Assemblee Nationale in 1789.

Rather than understanding the '€œleftist'€ as people who have critical opinions about the state establishment, some Indonesian leaders have given them a bad name as '€œtroublemakers'€ who have to be disciplined regardless of their non-violent means to achieve their goals.

In the present political praxis, leftist activism has received derogatory treatments similar to those given to LGBTs.

Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu says there are four potential dangers that the military is warily watching: liberalism, communism, Marxism and radicalism. '€œI have been traveling to the regions over the past 10 years to remind people of the dangers,'€ he told The Jakarta Post.

There have been lots of events disbanded with the usual tactic '€” using hard-line groups who claim to represent the will of the local people who do not want to see '€œcommunist propaganda'€ or the introduction of '€œMarxism'€ in their neighborhood.

Before the ban on the Turn Left Festival, security authorities had forcibly foiled the screening of and discussions on The Act of Killing, an Oscar-nominated documentary about the 1965 tragedies by the US-born Joshua Oppenheimer.

Last year, police banned Lentera, a campus magazine published by students of the Satya Wacana University in Salatiga, Central Java, for running investigative reports revolving around the 1965 tragedy in the cool hilly town.

Despite the tight rein on anything the authorities deem as '€œleftist'€, especially when it has to do with communism, Marxism and Leninism, the government does not give the same treatment to fascist works. It is simply because the 1965 MPRS decree only specifically mentions communism, Marxism and Leninism.

So even though, by the same token, fascist books could potentially instill fascism in their readers, such books as the translation of Adolf Hitler'€™s infamous Mein Kampf (My Struggle) are available in Indonesian bookstores, including the mainstream ones. While discussions on communism are a routine target of official banning, there has been no report of similar heavy-handed action against ones on fascism, which is generally placed to the far right in left-right politics.

The rising cases of suppression of leftist activity are just more signs of growing authoritarianism and intolerance perpetrated by state and the antidemocratic segments of society.

It looks as though few in the government have learned from history that early struggle for independence was started by '€œleftist'€ intellectuals like Soekarno and Muhammad Hatta. Legendary statesmen Sutan Syahrir and Tan Malaka were known as '€œleftists'€ for their anti-establishment views.

In fact, the first armed revolt against the Dutch colonial forces was started by the Indonesian Communist Party in 1926.

In a democratic system that Indonesia means to nurture, dissenting views should be perceived as an important contribution to the checks and balances that keep it safe from authoritarianism.
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Left out in the cold

Dec. 29, 2014

Film Censorship Institute (LSF) bans public screenings of Joshua Oppenheimer'€™s second groundbreaking documentary on the 1965 tragedy, Senyap (The Look of Silence).

Jan. 8, 2015

Yogyakarta-based Muhammadiyah University'€™s School of Engineering cancels screening of Oppenheimer'€™s The Look of Silence due to pressure from hard-line groups.

March 12, 2015

Sleman Police hunt down a student in Yogyakarta for allegedly masterminding Oppenheimer'€™s The Look of Silence screening at the Sunan Kalijaga State Islamic University.

April 16, 2015

Brawijaya University in Malang bans screenings of Alkinemokiye, a film about the labor movement and Samin vs Semen, about agrarian conflict '€” both of which were planned to be screened on May Day.

Sept. 30, 2015

Tujuh Belas Agustus University of Banyuwangi, East Java, cancels a discussion about communism due to pressure from several groups from outside the campus.

Oct. 23, 2015

Local authorities force the annual Ubud Writers and Readers Festival in Bali to cancel a series of discussions about the 1965 communist purge in Indonesia, the screening of The Look of Silence, an art exhibition and the launch of a book titled The Act of Living.

Nov. 4, 2015

The Indonesian Embassy in The Hague forbids the local chapter of the Indonesian Students Association (PPI) from attending the International People'€™s Tribunal on the 1965 killings.

Dec. 8, 2015

Jakarta Police ban a discussion on a drama script titled Family Album: #50years1965.

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