Indonesia: Justice in Djakarta

“Gantung Aidit!” demanded the crudely painted slogans on Djakarta’s downtown walls. That meant “Hang Aidit!” — the pro-Peking boss of Indonesia’s 3,500,000-member Communist Party. The wily Red was nowhere to be found, so the rampaging mob last week had to make do with less. They sacked one of Aidit’s four Djakarta homes and burned his furniture, then headed for the offices of his cocky Communist Youth Front. There, at the starting point of many a raid on the American library or embassy, the rioters administered poetic justice: the Red headquarters went up in flames.

Other symptoms of rampant anti-Communism and hatred of Aidit’s Peking masters abounded throughout Indonesia last week. A mob of 800 stormed the Chinese-run Republika University in the capital, wrecked and burned a two-story building, then invaded the dormitory with knives and submachine guns. Chinese shops in East Java were ransacked, and a newspaper editorial ranted ferociously against the “CIA”—meaning the “Chinese Intelligence Agency.”

Salvaging Nasakom. To Indonesians, long accustomed to President Sukarno’s friendship with Peking, it seemed odd indeed that Red China could be so viciously maligned. There was nothing really odd about it, for the anti-Chinese campaign simply marked the determination of the army under Defense Minister Nasution to wipe out all traces of Aidit and his Partai Kommunis Indonesia. Nasution would probably succeed, for he and his generals seemed in firm command of the country.

This did not mean that the army was broadly anti-Communist or pro-West, since Marxism and Communism remain respectable among most Indonesians, including the military. Indeed, with Nasution’s obvious approval, Sukarno last week set about salvaging what he could of his beloved Nasakom—the tenuous blend of nationalism, religion and Communism on which political control in Indonesia has long been balanced. Part of the salvage plan: formation of a “new” Communist Party based on nationalism and Indonesian self-interest rather than Peking’s influence. Aidit, who was believed still hiding out in Middle Java, was branded “a renegade and an outlaw.” He would be purged, and the new party would lean toward the Soviet orbit rather than the Chinese. “The President will settle the upheaval,” assured a Sukarno aide with typical Indonesian optimism. “If you eliminate the kom from our Nasakom then the balance has been destroyed. That is not practical politics. But you can eliminate the kom that is against you and create another in its place.”

Whatever the cast of the kom, Defense Minister Nasution was continuing his purge of Communists in the armed forces. Top Red to topple: Major General Pranoto, who was appointed by Sukarno to succeed the murdered Achmed Yani as army chief of staff. Pranoto’s replacement is rightist General Suharto, the tough, Dutch-trained boss of Djakarta’s strategic reserve who commanded the anti-coup forces for Nasution. Suharto’s elevation promised more trouble for the Reds. One current story has it that Suharto last week approached pro-Communist Air Force Boss Omar Dani in Sukarno’s presence at the Merdeka Palace and questioned him closely about the air force role in the coup. When Dani pleaded ignorance, Suharto reportedly slapped his face and ripped off Dani’s epaulets. Dani has not been heard from since.

Unlucky Lucky. One army officer who has been heard from, though, is Lieut. Colonel Untung, the obscure battalion commander in Sukarno’s palace guard who launched the abortive revolt. Untung, whose name in Indonesian means “lucky,” pushed nomenclature too far: riding on a bus also named Lucky, Untung was recognized near the Middle Java town of Semarang by two soldiers. Untung vaulted from the bus window but was nabbed by fellow passengers, who took him for a pickpocket and beat him severely before surrendering him to the soldiers. At week’s end Untung was back in Djakarta for interrogation and probably ultimate execution. But not before Nasution’s inquisitors find out for certain if it was really Peking who put Untung up to it.

There are those who say Sukarno was behind it all. The facts may never be known, particularly in light of last week’s disclosure that the events of the coup are being chronicled by that well-known diarist the Bung himself, who is compiling the story from “all groups and sources, including the P.K.I.”