Free Speech & Begging

Sep 7th, 2009, in IM Posts, Opinion, by Arie Brand

View the original article here.

39 Comments on “Free Speech & Begging”

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ultratupai Says:
September 13th, 2009 at 4:19 am
Both Roosa and Anderson are excellent sources regarding the 1965 coup. Such is the historical record of the coup that differing interpretations can be inferred. I would also like to highly recommend a new book by Bradley Simpson: ‘Economists with Guns: Authoritarian Development and U.S. -Indonesian Relations, 1960-1968′. Simpson, using newly disclosed documentation, outlines quite succinctly U.S. involvement in materially supporting the PKI purges and the propping up the the Suharto regime.

The lesson of 1997-98 was that it revealed (and what people knew all along anyway) that Suharto had created an Indonesia which was simply a house of cards. To cloak the truth of this he created and encouraged a perpetual state of violence. That was his mode of operation since 1965 and through to 1998.

See also : Siegel’s ‘A New Criminal Type in Jakarta’ or Ariel Heryanto’s ‘State Terrorism and Political Identity in Indonesia’ or Kusno’s ‘Behind the Post-Colonial: Architecture, urban space, and political cultures in Indonesia’. All of these texts speak directly to this fact.

That he built roads, or that people ‘felt secure’ is beside the point. So what! It was all a game of rank propaganda to allow global capital to suck Indonesia dry and to enrich his own organized mafia. Where are the billions he looted from his own people?

Suharto was a loathsome scab. He simply looted the nation. His minions like Wiranto and Prabowo and a whole host of others still walking the streets as free men were simply a mirror of his wishes.
Arie Brand Says:
September 13th, 2009 at 5:08 am
Whoever is right it seems that presently it makes little difference to the Indonesian public. The knowledge of the mass killings and Suharto’s Gulag seems to have been erased from the collective memory. What people know, if anything at all, is that generals were killed by the evil communists.

Anderson mentions that primary – and high school teachers were among the main victims of the mass killings. They were replaced by ill-educated drones who of course never mentioned what happened. Education, says Anderson, has become a ‘dreary swamp’, conspicuous for corruption rather than scholarship. He asked some ex-high school students whether any of their teachers had made an enduring impression on them. They looked at him with amazement, surprised about his apparent naivety.

See also http://thejakartaglobe.com/culture/the-forgotten-history-of-1965/315358
Odinius Says:
September 13th, 2009 at 6:46 am
Arie,

You should read Roosa’s book. It’s very compelling.

But yeah, you are right: neither Anderson’s nor Roosa’s arguments carry much weight in Indonesia. When I went into a sparkling new Gramedia a month ago, the only book on G30S they carried was a translation of Victor Fic’s hack job.
dragonwall Says:
September 13th, 2009 at 11:46 am
It was all a game of rank propaganda to allow global capital to suck Indonesia dry and to enrich his own organized mafia.

I don’t really think so that there were anything they are able to enriched themwelves with after the 1998 mass destructions.
Even the rich that were ranked between 20 billion were now reduce to rubbles.

Where are the billions he looted from his own people?

Is there any to be found? The Indonesian Government including the anti corruption watchdogs had made their very efforts but until now it is only nothing but speculations.

Suharto was a loathsome scab. He simply looted the nation

Yeah, sorry to say, now he is dead you are saying this, but when he was alive and in power, I didn’t hear you making such comments. Even the Tempo lost their case.

His minions like Wiranto and Prabowo and a whole host of others still walking the streets as free men were simply a mirror of his wishes.

On this part I definitely agree with you. Because of the background of these two bastards and the influence that they still have their loyal followers, those attempting to arrest them would think twice in order not to jeapardize their lives. Especially when Prabowo who “piara” a group of hoods ready to serve him for a few dollars more.

Whoever is right it seems that presently it makes little difference to the Indonesian public. The knowledge of the mass killings and Suharto’s Gulag seems to have been erased from the collective memory.

Not that they were erased away from their collective memory, but to the majority of them they could also be thinking that what he did was the right thing for the nation and the current threat now in Indonesia is no longer the Communist but the radical Islamics and Jihadist that are still running around with bombs strapped around their waist.

What people know, if anything at all, is that generals were killed by the evil communists.

So since you said this, do you think what Suharto had done was really necessary?
Or is there still remorse in you?
parvita Says:
September 18th, 2009 at 9:39 pm
Only street beggars are conned. How about government officials that ‘begs’?
diego Says:
September 18th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
@dw blablaed:

“…1998 mass destructions….”

Wow…. Maybe for the scale of you & your cronies it was indeed a “mass destruction”. But in the larger context, even “tiny eruption” is too much of a stretch.
mingo Says:
September 19th, 2009 at 9:00 am
The begging ( Aquisition ) of money to build a new Mosque. Is this now punishable by a fine and or imprisonment as well
dragonwall Says:
September 19th, 2009 at 10:06 am
Maybe for the scale of you & your cronies it was indeed a “mass destruction”. But in the larger context, even “tiny eruption” is too much of a stretch.

To you that was what you wanted to consider a “tiny eruption”.

How much does it cost to build or rebuild:

1. Glodok hotel.
2. Sampoerna Mall
3. All those ruko at Tubagus Angke.
4. Tomang Plaza.
5.Those ruko at Hayam Wuruk.
6. Those ruko in Mangga Dua.

And many many other buildings in Jakarta, Medan, Lampung, Padang,

Losses in excess of over 30 billion dollars is a tiny eruption.
Purba Negoro Says:
April 15th, 2010 at 6:36 pm
If these people are truly needy- there are thousands of well-organised and resourced charities (Yayasans) willing to help them.

I should know- I have my own Yayasan and know exactly how much it costs to establish and maintain one. It is not cheap and the process very difficult.

I also know for a fact that “God only helps those who help themselves”.
The poor must take at least some responsibility for their plight and make unpleasant changes to escape poverty.
Also keeping their legs shut and not breeding like flies would be a damn fine start.

I argue for sterilization or if not- transmigration for the extreme poor.