Religion, the Fall of Sukarno and the Elimination of Communism in Indonesia: G30S PKI and the mass killings of 1965-1966

Kristanto Budiprabowo (Tatok)

Discussing the history of mass killings in Indonesia especially in Java PKI mass murder, the first thing that come to my mind is my mother expression when she talking about anything correlating with PKI and the fellow organizations. I always remember how she in sorrow told to us, her children, about her old sister who can escape from the mass systematic murder and about her young brother who was an army but imprisoned because his commander suspected has a good correlation with communist people. When I was in the first high school, it was already 18 years after the PKI become a dangerous issue, in our simple house, she keep very carefully some Sukarno’s books beneath a big box to contain rice. When I found it, she express angry and afraid in her whispering message to keep the secret that she has those collections. Even though I was grew up in the more stable political era but beginning in my house, in the village community, in the school, and from the media information communism and PKI describe as “latent danger” that the present will destroy this country.

Since high school I have been suspicious of that over warning of communism. And I always have several big questions that often I couldn’t find the appropriate answer. History is the story of the winner, the heroes, and the power that dominated the complex truth. But for me, whatever the reasons and purposes, whether it has social or political purpose, whether it has cultural or religious reason, mass killing is always the terrible history of the murderer. In the case of PKI mass murder in Indonesia, it is quite clear that when political interpretation to such a group of people get religious legitimacy it will cause powerful social movement. In this situation, there are many possibilities can happen. There are at least two scenarios to interpret the killings. First, it was an organized action of the certain governmental wing that has good negotiation with local social and religious leader and also has a prospectus affair with international political leader. Second, it is the natural social reaction to the PKI action in killing numbers of generals and to some PKI group effort to take offer local control power.

All of the scenarios are look right for me. But my big question is still haunt me, why the social group who most active in that mass killing was a most traditional religious organization? And, why almost all of religious organizations give a green light or event insist to it adherents to joint in the murder? If I notice the stereotyping to the communist people as an anti-religion, I only see that perhaps that murder was mostly happened in religious motive in spite of political motive. Because, this stereotyping is obviously come from religious people.