Communist and Heroes Cemetery

(Ret) Air Force Lieutenant Colonel Heru Atmodjo has been declared as an Independence Fighter by the Indonesian government, so when he died last January, he was buried at the Kalibata Heroes Cemetery.

However, on 27 March his grave was silently removed to another cemetery.

MetroTV quoted the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces Admiral Agus Suhartono as saying that the grave was removed because Heru Atmodjo was not eligible to be buried at the Heroes Cemetery. However  he refused to explain what was the reason for the removal..

The most possible reason was because some people in Surabaya, East Java, have alleged that he was part of the banned Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) therefore they demanded the removal.
 
According to VivaNews, Heru Atmodjo was the Assistant Director of the Air Force Intelligence Agency when the PKI rebelled on 30 September 1965, and he was accused of participating in the rebellion.
Because of this reason, the Military Extraordinary Tribunal (Mahmilub) has sentenced him to life in jail but later on they reduced it to 15 years in jail.

One of those who accused Heru Atmodjo a Communist was Prof.Dr. Coen Holtzappel, a researcher at the Leiden University, Netherlands, who said that the 1965 Communist Rebellion was an intelligence operation carried out by the Air Force Intelligence headed by Heru Atmodjo.

The grave removal was protested by a member of the House of Representatives who said that it was illegal because Heru Atmodjo has been declared a Hero, therefore eligible to be buried at the Heroes Cemetery.

This incident makes me wonder whether or not the authorities would remove the grave of other Heroes who were alleged of Corruption.

The Notorious FPI

On 21 May 1998, President Soeharto stepped down after 32 year of authoritarian rule, since then Indonesia experienced a liberal democratic system.

One of the by product of such system is the creation of an organization called Front Pembela Islam (FPI) or Islamic Defender Front in 1998.

In spite of its name, FPI's actions did not reflect that of a religious organization, its members often carried out brutal violence such as raiding entertainment places and making threats. The worst thing is that most of such actions were untouchable by the law. For  that reason, many people alleged that  FPI has been maintained by the Police and/or the military for certain purpose.

The latest act act of violence was on 24 June when a group of people who claimed to be members of FPI ransacked a seminar organized by some members of the House of Representatives in Banyuwangi, East Java, which FPI accused has been organized illegally by former members of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) which was disbanded in 1965.

The above acts of violence have been strongly protested by the public, many of them demanded that FPI should be disbanded.

However, in several TV interviews FPI's spokesman denied that they took part in the said violence in Banyuwangi, saying that FPI has changed its paradigm from violence to non violence, and will dismiss members who do not obey this rule.

Further, FPI accused that its name has been used by certain people to divert public's attention from far more important things that is happening in Indonesia today.

Considering the fact that FPI's frequent violent actions were almost untouchable by the laws, I felt that FPI has been intentionally maintained by the security agencies to do things which would divert public's attention from far more important things in life like the (10% to 20%) electricity hike starting 1 July. And such action seems to be quite successful.

I hope that the law enforcement agencies would investigate all allegations against FPI and punish them if proven guilty.


Related articles in the media :
-  Islamic Defenders Front (Wikipedia)
-  Daftar Aksi Front Pembela Islam (Wikipedia)
-  Front Pembela Islam (FPI) in Indonesia (Indonesia Matters)
-  Kronologis Peristiwa Banyuwangi (FPI site)
-  Ulil: FPI Harus Dibubarkan (Tempo)
-  Rieke Punya Bukti Keterlibatan FPI (Kompas)
-  Tuntutan Pembubaran FPI Tidak Mengada-Ada (Legalitas)
-  Menko Polkam: Percuma Kita Bubarkan (Rakyat Merdeka)

The Indonesian Communist Party on Facebook

The Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) was banned by the government after they were accused of launching a coup d'etat attempt on 30 September 1965, causing the death of 7 high ranking Army officials.

Today, more than 44 years have passed after the tragedy and PKI seemed to be trying to return to Indonesia, this time through the online social networking media Facebook, under the name of Partai Komunis Indonesia 2010.

The page used the Hammer & Sickle symbol as avatar and mentioned that PKI has rebelled against the Dutch colonialist in 1926. And after the Indonesian independence in 1945, it masterminded the 1948 rebellion at Madiun, East Java. It also mentioned that it is not responsible for the 1965 coup d'etat attempt, it said instead that the incident was planned by General Soeharto and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

When I visited the page this afternoon the page has 1,477 fans and mentioned about two meetings that have been held by PKI 2010 with comments from quite a lot of viewers. In spite of the fact it called itself Partai Komunis Indonesia 2010, but its website, http://www.communist-party.org.uk, indicate that it is based in the United Kingdom.

For details, please click here, here and here.

It would be very interesting to know who is (or are) behind this Facebook page, why has it been made, and how come so many fans ? Could it be that some people are sick and tired of all the Neo-Lib stuffs ?