Bekasi Communism
Jun 15th, 2007, in News, by PatungThe re-emergence of communism in Bekasi.
Not only Bogor, Jakarta, Bandung, and Aceh but also Bekasi in West Java are feared by some to be under threat from a communist resurgence. So it appears from the words of parliament (MPR) chairman Hidayat Nurwahid on 13th June to a meeting of the Bekasi office of the Forum Kerukunan Umat Beragama (FKUB), the body charged with ensuring harmony between religious groups in the country.
Hidayat Nur Wahid
Because of the high level of poverty and lack of prosperity among the people Hidayat warned that communist ideas could make a comeback and urged the Bekasi FKUB to set an example to the country and keep on guard against communism. Any sectarian conflict between religious followers could easily be exploited by communists, he said, and what’s more communism was forbidden by religion.
I ask the Bekasi FKUB to set an example and work with the FKUB throughout the country to form a front to anticipate the spreading of communism.
Concrete steps the Bekasi FKUB should take were to increase the prosperity of people so that they wouldn’t fall for communism.
Not long ago, he worried, a number of communist books were found to be in circulation, and some people were even wearing t-shirts with communist symbols on them, even though this was illegal.
Achmad Syaikhu of the Bekasi FKUB said horizontal conflicts among people in society had to be solved in order to prevent the danger of latent communism re-emerging and destroying the country. antara
17 Comments on “Bekasi Communism”
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Teta says:
FBR, FPI, MMI and Jemaah Islamiyah is a bigger threat to Indonesia then PKI ever was. Nur Wahid, stop beating a dead horse. Communism has been proven to be a failed economic and political system. Religious extremism is now the biggest threat to Indonesia. Then again, Nur Wahid is known to symphatize with extremist organizations.
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Arema says:
LOL, if you ask most Indonesian in Indonesia about the definition of communism, most likely you’ll get a wrong answer. The word “communism” has a conotation so bad that people don’t care about its meaning anymore and just hate it, for whatever reasons.
A few definitions from Google:
An economic theory which stresses that the control of the means of producing economic goods in a society should reside in the hands of those who invest their labor for production. In its ideal form, social classes cease to exist, there is no coercive governmental structures, and everyone lives in abundance without supervision from a ruling class. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels popularized this theory in their 1848 Communist Manifesto
An economic or political system based on the sharing of all work and property by the whole community.
An economic system in which capital is owned by private government. Contrasts with capitalism.
See..? Communism can only initiated by the government. It’s not like FPI and the kind which can be established anywhere, anytime, by anyone.
Before I proceed, I’m no supporter of communism, but I just want to point out that Indonesian are paranoid of something really really not related to anything.
Communism has nothing to do with murder, G30S-PKI, and the kind. It’s our babe Harto propaganda that make us believe that kind of thing.
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WP says:
Communism has nothing to do with murder, G30S-PKI, and the kind. It’s our babe Harto propaganda that make us believe that kind of thing.
Very true.
It is even more sad that the chairman of the MPR (!!) either naively confuses what communism is, or deliberately continues to abuse the term, and hence is not doing constructively in educating the people he represents.
Can someone explain why do we have people like this running this country? Oh yes, the people elect them …
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Nickels says:
Hmm,
Yes, it is quite unfortunate that not many Indonesians are aware of what communism really means. I don’t blame our peers. How can they understand something that is flat-out forbidden to be understood.
The definition provided above is an interesting view of “Communism”. Communism didn’t really flourish until it was implemented by the Bolshevik after the Russian Revolution in 1917 (or something like that). But it is important to say that it is a DERIVED “political” theory in as much as it is “economic”. The person responsible with coining the term communism was Marx (and Engels, I don’t particularly favor the man). They, well Marx really, wanted a proletariat government. But it is important to note that he never finalized what communism entailed in detail. What was apparent was the intention behind the rise of consciousness, i.e., communism; according to Marx, communism was seen as THE way to subdue the negative ripples of Capitalism such as the antagonism between workers and capital owners. This is indeed appealing. Most labour parties, for example, are in one way or the other affected by Marxist ideal, but they are not necessarily communist. Now what our government is afraid of, I suppose, is the “Bolshevik” or the later “Maoist” type of communism; not Marxist. But that said, the distinction is not at all clear. This is perhaps because of the lack of understanding of what is which or what is what.
If only we have the literature. But of course, having the literature risks instigating such a movement, this is perhaps the logic behind the inhibition. This is a typical New Order mentality that we need to get rid of. Well then again, due to the large number of “proletariat” in Indonesia, it would only take one solid provocation to stage a daunting “revolution”. And THIS is what is sending goosebumps. So, it’s quite dillematic I suppose. hmmm, no, it’s not dillematic. It’s just challenging. How do you convey the right message without getting a significant backlash? I don’t know.
Anyways, cheers,
Nickles
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If only we have the literature. But of course, having the literature risks instigating such a movement, this is perhaps the logic behind the inhibition. This is a typical New Order mentality that we need to get rid of. Well then again, due to the large number of “proletariat” in Indonesia, it would only take one solid provocation to stage a daunting “revolution”. And THIS is what is sending goosebumps. So, it’s quite dillematic I suppose. hmmm, no, it’s not dillematic. It’s just challenging. How do you convey the right message without getting a significant backlash? I don’t know.
Actually this is not a problem at all in the first place, so we don’t need to worry so much about it. We don’t want communism in Indonesia, and the people hate it, so it’s good in that sense. Whether they hate it for the right reason or not, they’ll learn it sooner or later. Even if they never learn about the truth, it’s doesn’t matter practically, imho.
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Oyvindo says:
I hope the communists will make a comeback in Indonesia. Indonesia needs a group of communists in the parliament.
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Voenza says:
Oyvindo’s idea sounds very much fun.
Communists usually have a very high intellectual level and degree, so they are trained and usually gifted to have a very intellectual debate that even an anti communist could agree on the communist idea (sort of)
I bet those people could make the parliamentary debates in our present parliament more intelligent and not as stupid as we have right now.
This is from my personal experience watching parliament members with my own eyes debating and discussing bills.
Could you believe that member of parliament could propose a sale of soldier’s ration pack to the Armed Forces Commander, as in providing a sample and put it in the commander’s table, in a meeting to discuss plans of weapons procurement?. The parliament’s member reason is to break a monopoly of soldier’s ration pack production, but in essence its a sales pitch as admitted afterwards after the event by the member of parliament himself.
So please let the communists enter the parliament at any level, as they won’t win majority or be key in any coalition anyway in at least the next 2 or 3 decades.
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Dan says:
Look how threatened the religious groups feel at the mere IDEA of communism! I’m sure they are ready to burn books and throw people in jail for having that idea. And to think, the greatest massacre in the history of Indonesia was perpetrated AGAINST communists, not by communists. The idea frightens them because it loosens up the stranglehold of religious indoctrination on the masses and threatens to put the religious mafia (e.g. Hiadayat Nur Wahid) out of business. Aren’t people suspicious of leaders who would recognize violent theocratic insurgents before they recognize peaceful secular thinkers whose major sin is holding the belief that the universe came into being without a god?
The failure of Soviet style communism doesn’t mean that the answer is the pseudo-free market capitalism which America pushes on the rest of the world. After all, it is this kind of system which is now responsible for the massive inequalities we see in most of the world and the environmental degradation perpetrated by big business in the race for wealth.
As mentioned by others above, religious fanaticism is a much more real threat for regular Indonesians than some supposed communist insurgency. At this point, only the religious mafia could feel more threatened by communists than fanatics.
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Ismayanto Prihandariyanto says:
I am very happy with the all comments above;Our generation are much more informed than the bigotry people. Communist phobe is a bigotry;To similarize studying Marxism with communism is same with to similarize Christianity with KKK,crusade,Pat Robertson, and also Islam with Hizbut Tahrir and Baasyir,and FPI, and also nationalism with Hitler. UNITE TO RESIST THE BIGOTRY. Make Indonesia is a nice place to stay and to speak out !!!
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viet says:
Hey guys,
Speaking from the perspective of a victim of communism, I’d just like to say that you may want to thank your leaders or forefathers for preventing communism from spreading to your country. Communism is like a plague, it wreaks havoc and destroys it hosts or wherever it takes root. Look at the sufferings, the poverty, the loss of human rights and dignity of the people under communist governments, Viet Nam, North Korea, China, the former USSR, etc… So please, please be thankful that your government has the wisdom to prevent communism from destroying your country.
Communism is another form of “religion”, but the religion that does NOT believe in the soul, the spirit, or the existence of a super being as other religions. Therefore, it has no reservation nor remorse in killing, stealing, or anything immoral just to achieve their end [the ends justify the means]. So please, again, DO NOT fantasize nor romanticize this already condemned “religion” called communism. Trust me, it is the WORST “religion” or “philosophy” ever existed in human history. If you’d like to try it out, go live a day in North Korea, or China, or Viet Nam, or Cuba [as a plain citizen of these “communist states] and then perhaps you’ll see. The South VietNamese people used to “fantasize” about communism just as you guys are doing now. And then, they risked death and gambled their lives for a chance at freedom and away from these communists that your government has forbidden. Good luck.
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Ismayanto Prihandariyanto says:
Our generation are much more informed than the bigotry people. Communist phobe is a bigotry;To similarize studying Marxism with communism is same with to similarize Christianity with KKK,crusade,Pat Robertson, and also Islam with Hizbut Tahrir and Baasyir,and FPI, and also nationalism with Hitler.
Uhm, I have been reading articles from these sites from time to time:
1. Rumahkiri.net – Marxism and anti-capitalism
2. Anarch[Oi!]! – Punk subculture, anarchy in the eyes of young IndonesiansPersonally I haven’t been able to fully comprehend the idea of Marxism, communism, and anarchy, or how to set each apart and distinguish each of them. Just thought I should recommend those sites by this comment.
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tresya bedkowska says:
Yes, Communism as an ideology has its own diseases in the system. Anyway, ideology is an outdated issue in the post cold war era along with the resurgence of religions (as an ideology and political actions, particularly islam) early nineties. Indonesia reaping its benefits nowadays. should I see this as a threat for future vision of Indonesian republic? It could be yes, But… thank’s to the people that in their very heart, they love moderation.
Just to comments on G30SPKI. It’s a long history after bolshevik revolution in Russia as early as 1904-05, then 1917 when finally the leaders (muso) reached east java for a failure revolution in 1922. It wasn’t enough, they set another plan for 1948 ( perhaps) around 1957 (hm.. not sure with the years:) But it was clear in the international stage, that the accommodating action given by Sukarno to the communist party through the NaSaKom (national -agama-communist) Gave the communist party a strong foundation to take the lead of the new born republic’s trajectory. Then the coup d’etat by military was indeed had managed indonesia to prosper its economic and development until 1990. Who behind this all? All of them: Russia who envied japan for its imperialism in Indonesia, and wanting Indonesian natural resources, and US who matters the Indonesian Independence and integration along with the natural resources. At least it was good Indonesia played good and not fallen apart like other asian countries and China. Bravo Indonesia!
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Well…
I don’t mean to defend Suharto here, but sometimes I regret but simultaneously salut his silence from the 30 years affairs he made.
Commenting on Viet, that we should thanking the govt. for banning the communism, it’s a reasonable consideration. But it doesn’t come that easy.
First, the indoctrination that Communist is a latency in Suharto’s totalitarian era has most likely indoctrinated Indonesians in their way of thinking about communism.
Second, the condemnation of the communist and its generation, it’s the bitter sanction which I never heard in any other nations. It’s in accordance to fight the INTERNATIONALISM of the stateless principle of the communism.
Third, Chinese Indonesian conflict. It’s still a bitter one for most of indonesians as a respond of the Mao tse tung (Mao zedong) statement, every chinese in all over the world is chinese citizen.
For the latter two, Suharto mostly condemned concerning with communism.We can rest now for the dread of this ideology, because the world political trajectory has shifted from ideology to Civilizational matters( according to samuel.p. huttington). This could have meant ‘religion’.
Lately I can see my growing worrisome toward the islamic fundamentalis in Indonesia.
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To oyvindo:
Yes, I think Communism principles lives in a political party. It just don’t bear a literal ‘communist’ name. This party too ( small one I guess) also participating the election this year. -
diego says:
guys,
which one is worse: communism or syariahism?
dunno, still undecided between: stinking unwashed university students … or … stinking unwashed goat-bearded.
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Ross says:
As noted elsewhere, the sharia mob appear to be emulating the bad old PKI, and the PKS is surely shaping up to be as much a danger as the Reds wre in 1965, though not yet so numerous.
It is a mistake to let parties of that sort into government coalitions – the famous ‘salami tactics’ which devoured democacy in post-war Europe were caused by treating Communists as just another party with something to offer.
Communism, of course, offered merely destruction of freedoms, detainment of democrats, and death for those who posed a serious threat to marxist goals; they even re-opened one of the Nazi concentration camps and used it to frightful purpose..
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No more communism today. Look at Russia and China. Why should be feared of something that does not exist anymore. Communism forbidden by religion? I am sure Hidayat does not know anything about it. In fact, religious radicals and terrorists are more dangerous.