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deological tensions may heat up as some retired Army generals have organized an anti-communist symposium for Wednesday in response to an event in April when participants discussed the deadly 1965 purge and possible reconciliation.

At least 300 retired generals and members of mass organizations will gather at the event called “Protecting Pancasila from Threats of the Indonesian Communist Party [PKI] and Other Ideologies” on Wednesday and Thursday.

“The outcomes from the April symposium have run counter to what we expected as a way to shed light for national reconciliation,” symposium coordinator Kiki Syahnakri told a press conference on Monday.

“Using a historical approach is not the correct way to address everything related to the PKI, because it contains lots of versions that will only confuse the public who want the truth to be revealed,” he said, referring to the April event entitled “Dissecting the Tragedy of 1965: A Historical Approach”.

Kiki added that the two-day symposium, spearheaded by the Association of Indonesia Army Retirees (PPAD), was meant to protect the nation’s younger generations from threats by “PKI leftovers” that would possibly hinder the country from moving forward, especially when the government is concentrating on developing infrastructure nationwide.

The retired Army general said the symposium was a move to oppose the “resurgence of the communist movement in the country that could jeopardize Pancasila as the country’s tenet, given the recent discovery of the perceived use of hammer-and-sickle logos nationwide”.

Expected to speak at the event are Islam Defenders Front (FPI) leader Rizieq Shihab, religious leaders from two most prominent Islamic organizations in the country, Muhammadiyah and Nahdlatul Ulama, as well as former vice president Try Sutrisno and Defense Minister Ryamizard Ryacudu.

Ryamizard, also a retired general, is believed to be a staunch backer of this event by activists in the capitol. In an interview on May 14, Ryamizard said he opposed the April symposium, citing the “imbalance” contained in the event that focused only on gathering testimonies from the survivors of the 1965 purge.

Kiki acknowledged that Ryamizard supports the event, but said that his contribution was merely “a morale boost by giving a speech to kick off the symposium”.

Retired Army Special Forces (Kopassus) general Sintong Pandjaitan and lawmaker Fadli Zon of the Gerindra Party are also scheduled to speak in two sessions during the symposium. Sintong’s speech is entitled “Historical Aspect of PKI Movement in the Country” and Fadli’s is “The Constitutional Perspective of Communism and Marxism-Leninism”.

In the April symposium, Sintong claimed that the death toll as a result of the mass killings following the alleged attempted coup in 1965 was not as high as 80,000, citing the results of a fact-finding team formed in December 1965 by then president Sukarno and led by then home minister Soemarno. (mos)