Indonesia's new anti-communist penal code smells like Suharto's horrible legacy: Marxism prohibited

A terrible spectre is haunting Indonesia these days; the spectre of dictator Suharto. The new penal code voted by the Indonesian Parliament on December 6th consists a major setback in fundamental civil rights and political freedoms.

Apart from the ban on extramarital sex relations and the restrictions in the freedom of expression (ban on protests, restrictions on academic liberties, etc), the new penal code prohibits the teaching and spreading of political views counter of state ideology (Pancasila). In fact, under the new legislation, the spreading and teaching of Marxism-Leninism, the worldview of scientific socialism, is prohibited. 

Indonesia tsunami- Proletarian solidarity to the workers and the people of Indonesia

The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), representing 95 million workers in 130 different countries across the world, expresses its most heartfelt condolences to the people of Indonesia after the tsunami caused by a volcanic eruption on 22 November.

According to official information so far, at least 281 people have died from the tsunami, hundreds more are injured and many more remain missing.

Indonesia: Suharto fascist regime's anticommunist persecutions are revived by the current government

Following the steps of fascist dictator Suharto, the government of Indonesia seems to revive anticommunist practices by prosecuting people who advocate communism! A recent example of such a prosecution is the one of Henri Budiawan who was sentenced to 10 months in prison allegedly for "spreading communism". 

As the Agence France-Presse reports, the Indonesian environmentalist has been sentenced to 10 months in prison under a tough anti-communism law, a legacy of one of the darkest chapters in its history.

The Rebirth of the Communist Party of Indonesia

The following essay deals with the resumption of the legal activity of the Communist Party of Indonesia after 50 years of prohibition. It is an adaptation and elaboration of Vladimir M. Soloveichik’s presentation, published on the Leningrad Internet TV and YouTube on 27 June 2016, in Russian language.

The article offers interesting information about the heroic and tragic history of the once largest non-ruling Communist Party in the world and expresses the optimism that the new generations of indonesian communists will continue the path of the struggle, joining the marxist-leninist movement for the materialization of the communist ideal. 

Declassified documents expose US role in the 1965-66 massacre of millions of communists in Indonesia

Declassified files have exposed just how much the US knew about and supported the massacre of millions of Indonesians in the 1965 anti-communist purges.

The non-governmental National Security Archive research group published 39 documents on Tuesday, out of thousands of pages of newly declassified files from the US embassy in Jakarta. They cover the period from 1963-66, documenting official knowledge and approval of the army’s death-squad operations to wipe out the three million-strong Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) and its supporters.

Up to three million people were rounded up across the country, executed and dumped in mass graves. The files show that the US provided the Indonesian army with lists of senior communist party officials, equipment and money during the massacres. The purges led to the overthrow of communist-backed nationalist president Sukarno and the 31-year dictatorship of General Suharto.

The forgotten holocaust: The 1965-66 massacre against Indonesia's communists

By Nikos Mottas*.

Without any doubt, the WWII Holocaust and the 1915 Armenian genocide consist the two largest mass slaughters of the 20^th century. They are crimes which must never be erased from the collective memory of the peoples, no matter how many decades will pass. 

However, there are also less known sides of History, the “forgotten” holocausts to which the bourgeois historiography has given little importance, either by downgrading them as insignificant details of world history or by distorting their true dimensions. 

A major example of such a “forgotten” holocaust is the mass slaughter of the communists in Indonesia by Suharto's dictatorship during the 1965-66.

Primitive anti-communism in Indonesia: Russian citizen detained for wearing a t-shirt with sickle and hammer

It seems that the spirit of the mass murderer, dictator of Indonesia between 1967 to 1998, Suharto, still lives on in the country- and so the anticommunist legislation in the country continues to exist. According to Sputnik International a russian citizen was confronted and briefly detained in Indonesia for wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with a hammer and sickle!

According to sputniknews.com, Igor Riabchuk, a Russian national, was accosted by a group of local people in Batam, Indonesia, December 31, for wearing a t-shirt with the communist symbol.

The people turned out to be members of an organization that calls itself Children of the Red Beret Command (AKBM); the group tried to explain to Riabchuk that he was violating Indonesian law by wearing a communist symbol, but could not overcome the language barrier. Unable to communicate with Riabchuk, who can only speak Russian, not English or Indonesian, the locals took him to a police station by force, where he was detained. According to Riau Islands Police spokesman Saptono Erlangga, the police decided to detain Riabchuk "for his own safety."