TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The House of Representatives (DPR) Deputy Speaker Lodewijk Paulus said it is necessary to conduct an in-depth study regarding the issue that the Indonesian Military (TNI) was infiltrated by the now-defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) ideology.

“Of course, we need to conduct an in-depth study. We must not spark uproar about the national condition,” said Lodewijk in the Parliament Building, Thursday, September 30.

The former Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) commander said the allegation arose following the relocation of statues of military figures who were allegedly killed by PKI in an incident known as G30S. Lodewijk said it must be first examined whether the statue relocation could be an indicator of PKI infiltration.

Lodewijk added that TNI had applied a system to detect whether or not the personnel was influenced by such forbidden communist ideology since the onset of the personnel recruitment.

Previously reported, former TNI commander Gatot Nurmantyo suspected that PKI supporters had infiltrated the TNI again. He voiced the suspicion that was proven through a short video showing the removal of evidence about the G30S in the Dharma Bhakti Museum of the Army Strategic Command (Museum Kostrad).

Kostrad’s spokesman Col. Inf. Haryantana said in a press release that Kostrad had never dismantled or removed the historical statues of Indonesia’s Second President Soeharto and military figures Lieut. Gen. Sarwo Edhie Wibowo and Gen. AH Nasution.

“The removal of the statues was at the request of Lieut. Gen. (Retired) Azmyn Yusri Nasution for his peace,” said Haryantana, denying that it was motivated by a communist agenda.

Read: LBH Jakarta Building Attacked by Anti-Communist Protesters

FRISKI RIANA