“BPS=Sukarnoism to kill Sukarnoism and Sukarno”. The castigating line in English appeared on the electronic board of the Senayan Indoor Stadium in Jakarta Feb. 23, 1965. The event was the 19th anniversary of the Association of Indonesian Journalists (PWI). Its commemoration was the prelude to the failed putsch attempt later in the year of the Sept. 30 movement blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

At issue in the Senayan gathering was the clash in ideology between non-communist newspapers and communist-oriented dailies that painted the political landscape in Indonesia from 1964 to 1965, the latter years of the Sukarno presidency.

A formidable PKI and a fervently non-communist Indonesian Army were the two power camps competing to exert their influence and gain the favor of Sukarno, the country’s president since he proclaimed Indonesia’s independence in 1945. This PKI-Sukarno-Army trilateral power play only needed a trigger for a game-changing political explosion.

The battle of the minds also filtered down to the media sector.

Polarization of the press business was caused by two events in 1964, according to Tribuana Said in a 1983 book Indonesia’s BPS Press Fight Against PKI Movement.

First, on May 8, 1964 president Sukarno with PKI coaxing ordered the banning of the Cultural Manifesto, a group of non-communist literary writers who sought freedom of expression not serving political ends. They distinguished themselves from the pro-PKI writers in Lekra, the People’s Cultural Institute, who used political rhetoric in their work.

“The Political Manifesto of the Republic of Indonesia as the illuminator of the Pancasila has become the broadlines of the state and any other manifesto accompanying it would be out of the question,” the banning order stated.

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