Indonesia in Turmoil

...He has insisted that he will not follow the path of so many other Asian countries recently or of Latin American generals...

...has begun to extend military and economic aid...

...How firmly anti-Communist the Indonesian Government really is can be seen from the recent vast crackdown on the country's Chinese community...

...But it is a peculiar, fluid type of anti-Communism which still permits Communists in the National Advisory Council created by President Sukarno and insists upon a policy of revenge and annihilation of those who most early and firmly warned against the Communist threat...

...Martial law reigns in the country and the Army under Nasution is the chief administrator of affairs...

...HARRY GOLBBERG, who has lived in Indonesia, is with the AFL-CIO International Affairs Department...

...On the whole, this action was very costly to Jakarta...

...It is true that the Government forces hold all the large towns on Sumatra...

...To prove the second claim, apologists point to the purported growing awareness of the Communist threat on the part of top governmental personnel, the firm anti-Communism of General Abdul Haris Nasution, Chief-of-Staff, and the steps taken to "keep the Communists in their place...

...The destruction and disruption brought about by the continuing civil war are glaringly apparent: Sumatran raw materials are still not available in large measure to the central Government...

...In large part, this accounts for its recent toning-down of criticism of the U.S...

...The troops who landed at Amurang were driven off...

...wages are terribly low...

...It placed its representative, Colonel Superiogi, in the key Cabinet post of Minister for Economic Stabilization...

...In fact, Nasution himself, in one of his more unguarded moments, recently admitted that it would take at least two more years to end the military aspect of the revolt...

...The problem of U.S.-Indonesian relations is admittedly a very delicate and difficult one...

...To prove the first assertion, official apologists cite the alleged facts that the rebels have never won a large-scale battle in either of the two main centers where the civil war has raged—Sumatra and the Celebes— and that they have been driven out of every large town and center of the two islands...

...Guerrilla action—strong, extensive, continuous—goes on in both Sumatra and the Celebes...

...another officer, Colonel Pirngadi, is Deputy Minister for Industries...

...Mochtar Lubis, the independent and courageous editor of Indonesia Raya and chairman of the Indonesian Section of the International Press Institute, has been under house arrest for two years without trial...

...By Harry Goldberg INDONESIA IN TURMOIL Army dictatorship and Government obduracy hinder settlement of civil war and economic reconstruction FOR MONTHS, optimistic official handouts have come out of Jakarta claiming that: 1) the rebels have finally been defeated...

...Previously Jakarta had been very critical of the evident moral support and sympathy with the rebels initially expressed in official U.S...

...On the one hand, the State Department is always worried about the potential blackmail contained in the not-too-subtle hints from some Asian countries, "If you do not help us we will go to the other side...

...The light and shade have been put in the picture in such a way as to give a completely distorted impression...

...This worry has probably been a substantial, if not determining, consideration in deciding to help Indonesia...

...Nasution and Djuanda do not want to give up their positions of power and prestige...

...Indonesia needs military and economic help badly...

...it is true that the national election scheduled for 1959 has been postponed...

...His popularity among the masses of Indonesia is still undoubtedly great (with the exception of Sumatra, where he hasn't shown his face since the start of the rebellion in February 1958...

...Heavy fighting is going on now around Padang, and around Bukittinggi, the second largest city of Central Sumatra, and Medan, the chief city of North Sumatra...

...circles...

...at Likupang they surrendered to the rebel forces...

...the suffering of the people is great...

...from whom it seeks help...

...Some members of the central Government admit the justice of many of the rebel demands and have urged the Government to meet the rebels halfway, to stop the civil war and lay the basis of negotiations for a common program...

...Lot's examine each of the three claims made...

...Not a single important rebel leader, military or civilian, had been captured on Sumatra by the Government...

...it has clamped down a wide censorship on the press...

...Will the former press for a full, open military dictatorship...

...The rebels have from the start indicated their willingness to do just that...

...The attitude and actions of our State Department, therefore, will help a Government which has been anti-democratic and complacent toward Communism, and will hurt those elements in Indonesia who are most firmly democratic and anti-Communist and who are fighting against terrific odds for a same, democratic Indonesia more friendly to the U.S...

...They have played a very important part in f ndonesia's economic life, especially on the lower and middle levels...

...They have neither the forces nor the power to patrol or control the large stretches of territory in between the large towns...

...It's an appealing picture...

...Chinese have been ordered to register the details of all their possessions...

...He prefers to fiddle while Rome burns, touring the country, making speeches to the masses—the thing he loves best—especially on the West New Guinea or Irian issue, as the Indonesians call it, to the neglect of the more fundamental and infinitely more important problems that beset Indonesia internally...

...On September 22, for instance, Sibolga, an important West Sumatran port was recaptured and held for two weeks by the rebels...

...The rebel forces, hidden in the jungles or mountains of the huge island, and often in small out-of-the-way villages, continue almost at will their constant harassment of Government positions, destroying valuable military dumps, burning plantations and other dollar-earning establishments, attacking and sometimes even retaking for a while large towns themselves...

...As far as the military situation is concerned, the civil war is far from over...

...On the other hand, despite the basic residue of sympathy with the objectives of the rebels inside and outside the State Department, the U.S...

...There are about three million Chinese in Indonesia...

...Parliament, be it noted, has just extended for another year the emergency powers under which the Army rules...

...The least the U.S...

...Papers are told what they can print and what they cannot...

...But it is a long-term possibility, not an immediate threat...

...As to Sukarno, his forte never was administration, and he is probably happy to see some other person managing this end of affairs...

...In light of these facts—unfortunately not generally known abroad, and suppressed by the official Governmental sources of communication and information—one can hardly speak of the civil war being over...

...They continue, in the jungles and mountains, to lead the various guerrilla forces and even to conduct the civilian administration of large sections of Sumatra between the major towns...

...the paratroopers at Mapanget airfield were destroyed...

...An "interesting" situation undoubtedly exists in the present relationship between Nasution and Sukarno, clearly the two most powerful men in the country...

...But that is about all they hold...

...The U.S...

...On the whole, the position of the Government in Celebes is far from easy, probably worse than in Sumatra...

...Indonesia has been pressing Australia for a more sympathetic understanding of its claims against Holland for Western New Guinea...

...especially the postponement of the 1959 national election which the Communists would probably have won had it been carried through...

...All this has made Nasution the virtual dictator of practical, administrative affairs...

...is being taken for a bit of a ride here...

...the Ambassadors to India and the Vatican, and the Consul General in Singapore are Army men...

...She has assured Australia that she has no aggressive intentions vis-a-vis the latter, and that if Western New Guinea is "returned" to her she will be prepared to guarantee Australia's right to control the eastern half of the island, at present under Australian rule...

...The situation, in fact, couldn't be worse...

...Contrary to the impression which Jakarta systematically tries to create abroad—that the rebels are led by irresponsible adventurers—their leaders are dedicated patriots, Including three ex-Prime Ministers, other ex-Cabinet members, ambassadors, etc., who have served their country well in the past...

...military aid...

...Failing that, the policy of our State Department vis-a-vis Indonesia would seem to be puzzling, paradoxical, morally unsatisfactory and, probably, ultimately self-defeating...

...And that is likely to prove an optimistic prediction...

...2) Communism has been stopped, and the danger of its taking over in Indonesia is practically over: 3) Indonesia has "reached the bottom...

...Ex-Vice-President Hatta, who knows much more about economic realities than Sukarno or the light-minded politicians around him, recently asserted that Indonesia was practically on the verge of bankruptcy...

...There has been a three-way discussion going on among the U.S., Indonesia and Australia around the question of U.S...

...will be used to crush the rebels...

...What is most damaging to the central Government, considering the grave condition of the Indonesian economy, is that because of the continuing guerrilla action on Sumatra, a goodly part of the raw materials of Sumatra, which always constituted the chief dollar-earning capacity of Indonesia, is still being denied to Jakarta...

...After initially refusing it, the U.S...

...Sukarno prefers to hold on to his "guided democracy" and will not forgive his critics...

...Their stubborness represents a criminal sacrifice of the interests and well-being of the Indonesian people...

...In enquiring from the U.S...

...obviously cannot intervene on their side...

...But he uses this popularity to buttress his anti-democratic policy of "guided democracy" to which he stubbornly clings, even though it has been responsible for most of the troubles that have plagued Indonesia recently, including the civil war...

...Recently, the most influential English-language newspaper, Times of Indonesia, was suspended indefinitely for daring to criticize Egypt's President Gamal Nasser...

...communication and distribution among the various islands are still disrupted...

...But such protestations have been heard before...

...There is only one fault with it: it just isn't true...

...the dollar reserves are the lowest in Indonesia's history...

...The utterance of any critical comment on any aspect of contemporary Indonesian life, especially the activity of the present Government, can bring, as it has in many cases, suspension of publication for weeks...

...It is true that Nasution is anti-Communist: it is true that under the emergency powers at present granted lo the Army he has prohibited some anti-American demonstrations and some projected strike actions of the Communists...

...By a recent official Army decree, about 52 Chinese organizations have been banned, including newspapers, schools, a bank, movie theaters, groups of merchants, teachers, actors, etc., their activities being described as ". . . harming the national interests...

...The basic instability of the situation is dramatized by the existence of a virtual military dictatorship in Indonesia, in fact if not in name...

...The military situation in the other chief sector of operations, the Celebes, is perhaps even less glowing for Jakarta...

...This help, not very large as yet, will be greatly increased in the near future, to the tune of some 3133,000,000 in 1959...

...It is admittedly difficult to ascertain the real feelings of the civilian population of Sumatra, caught in this regrettable civil war between the two sides, but there is definite reason to believe that the majority of the more conscious Sumatrans are still sympathetic to the rebel cause and continue to look upon the Governmental forces as agents of the Javanese of "the other island...

...The Army has intervened in every aspect of government...

...The Communists are biding their time, and the very grave economic situation in Indonesia plays into their hands...

...During the last week of November, Padang itself, the most important city of Central Sumatra, was attacked and the Government forces suffered severe losses...

...It decides if a strike can be held or not...

...In the short run, will it or not, desire it or not, no matter the official protestations of Jakarta, the military help furnished by the U.S...

...The Army interferes and decides on every aspect of economic life...

...As far as the third claim is concerned, with the rebellion virtually over, so runs the story, the country can now turn to put its internal economic and social house in order...

...The important point to note in all this is that the crackdown has been made only against those Chinese in Indonesia who are anti-Communist, who are supporters (or had been supporters) of Nationalist China...

...If done with diplomatic finesse, this could avoid the appearance of interfering in the country's internal affairs...

...Any talk about the improving economic situation is so much whistling in the dark...

...on its proposed military help to Indonesia, the Australian Government has been assured by the U.S...

...This latter is especially reprehensible in a country whose leaders insist on their democratic virtues...

...It has inserted its people in key positions everywhere...

...However, Sukarno, Nasution and Djuanda, the Prime Minister (of the essentially shadowy, powerless Government) firmly reject such an approach...

...that its proposed military aid is purely for internal purposes, that the Indonesian Government is fully aware of the dangers represented by Communist subversion and it is on that basis that the arms would be supplied...

...The postponement of the election was merely a recognition of the overwhelming strength of the Communists, a strength that had in large measure been built up by the reckless adventurism of Sukarno, Ali Sastroamidjojo and their cohorts...

...It can of course not be denied that the danger of Communist subversion exists in Indonesia...

...In a December report from rebel headquarters in Celebes, Major General Kawilarang, ex-Indonesian military attache in Washington and the rebel Commander-in-Chief on the island, claims the unconditional surrender in November of three companies of Government troops...

...is now over the hump and on its way back to normality...

...The initial assault on northern Celebes, around Menado, the chief city of the region, made last June 16th at six points in the territory (Amurang, Likupang, Kema, Girian, Bitung and Mapanget airport) was disastrous for the Government forces...

...No action has been taken against and no political stigma attaches to those Chinese who declare themselves supporters of Communist China...

...A return to a basically democratic political system, the granting of substantial local autonomy to the outlying islands within a federated setup, and a firm anti-Communist internal policy, could provide the basis for successful negotiations...

...Larger reinforcements later enabled the Government to capture some of these towns, and the same pattern as in Sumatra asserted itself: The Government now occupies some of the large towns, but the rebels patrol and control the hinterland and most of the territory of the region, with the population of the Celebes clearly in sympathy with them...

...inflation is rampant...

...at Kema, two landings were completely annihilated...

...Though most of it will be used for agricultural, industrial and health programs, some millions will be spent in providing the Indonesian Army with military material...

...the negative results of the confiscation of Dutch economic interests (with inadequate Indonesian personnel available to run them) are still starkly in evidence...

...can do is to couple its help to Indonesia with behind-the-scenes suggestions that a modus vivendi with the rebels would he beneficial all around, especially to Indonesia itself...

...As for the Communist threat to Indonesia, any idea that the Communists will fold up under the pressure of Nasution or that they are finished is a most dangerous illusion...

...Official relations between the present Indonesian Government and the United States have recently improved...

...The great need in Indonesia today is to stop the civil war, heal the wounds generated by it, and unify Indonesia around a common program calculated to enable the country to overcome its grave economic and political problems...

...It will be interesting to see how subsequent events will resolve the rather uneasy dual-power relationship of Sukarno and Nasution...