Indonesia: Friend in Need

Sometimes, late at night, I phone Subandrio, and 1 say, “Bandrio, come and sit with me, keep me company, talk to me of silly things, tell me a joke, say anything as long as it’s not political. And if I fall asleep, please forgive me.”

—Sukarno’s autobiography (1965)

The court-martial of the man who spent so many of his nights putting Sukarno to sleep came to its inevitable end last week. After three weeks of testimony, a military tribunal in Djakarta found Dr. Subandrio—who for nine years was the President’s closest confidant and Indonesia’s second most powerful man—guilty of treason.

The specific charges included complicity in last year’s attempted Communist coup, subverting post-coup efforts to restore order, and embezzling $500,000 in government funds. The evidence, admittedly, was mostly circumstantial. “His actions have marred the Indonesian revolution,” declared Lieut. Colonel All Said, president of the nine-man military tribunal. “The court sees nothing in his favor, no cause for leniency. His testimony was a series of lies.” So saying, Said rapped his gavel three times and pronounced sentence: death by firing squad.

Subandrio is not dead yet. Under Indonesian law, he was given 30 days to submit a clemency plea to the President, a title his old friend Sukarno still holds. Despite friendship and title, Bung Karno is not in much of a position to save Subandrio. For the object of the trial, as Indonesians are well aware, was to discredit the Bung himself. Subandrio managed to avoid implicating Sukarno directly in the Communist plot, but his main defense was that his subversive acts were all carried out in the line of duty—and the line had been set by Sukarno. Due to start later this month is the trial of former Air Vice Marshal Omar Dani, chief of the Air-Force. From his testimony may come the answer to an intriguing question: What was Sukarno doing at Halim airbase, headquarters of the plotters, when the coup was launched?

With dark suspicions hanging over his head, Sukarno might not be able to do anything more for Subandrio. He can say anything he pleases, and talk of silly things, but he must be very careful about doing anything political.