MPR Speaker Bambang Soesatyo emphasized that Sukarno could not be found guilty, as the allegations were never legally processed during his lifetime.

Beyond the legal aspect, it is important to consider the historical context. Accusations of communist ties were often politically motivated during the post-Sukarno era, and even today, they remain a cheap tactic in national politics.

Looking back to a time before the notorious mass killings of 1965-1966, the black propaganda against the PKI proved highly effective. This wasn’t because the PKI had wronged the Indonesian people: As the saying goes, history is written by the victors, and in this case, the PKI were the losers.

Being a communist or Marxist should not carry a negative connotation. It's time to move past the mindset of the Cold War era, when being nonaligned or anti-United States was seen as allegiant to the Soviet Union or China.

During the height of McCarthyism and the anti-communist hysteria that spread globally during the Cold War, even activists like Martin Luther King Jr and Nelson Mandela were branded as communists.

Today, under the “new McCarthyism”, figures like Nobel laureate Maria Ressa and environmental activist Greta Thunberg face similar accusations, labeled as communist agitators in online spaces.