Prabowo Suspects Communism, PKI Still Exist in Indonesia

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto suspected that communism still exists in Indonesia, saying that even though the Soviet Union had fallen for a long time, the ideology persisted.

"Therefore, that the ideology of communism and the communist movement in Indonesia should be expected to continue to exist," said rector of Indonesia Defense University TNI Lit. Gen. Tri Legionosuko, who read out Prabowo's speech at an event of review of a book entitled "PKI Dalang dan Pelaku G 30S 1965" (Mastermind and Actor of G 30S 1965, PKI) at National Defense Agency (Lemhanas) on Saturday, Nov. 23.

The defense minister even asked teachers to teach their students the history of the cruelty of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

"I also hope that teachers at schools can explain to their students the true history of PKI's revolt and atrocities," Legionosuko continued reading the minister's speech.

He said that PKI had several times attempted to bring down the legitimate Indonesian government, one of them was the "30 September 1965 Movement" which led to the death of seven Military High Officers. "This movement aimed at overthrowing President Soekarno and turning Indonesia as a communist state," he added.

He, therefore, asks teachers to aggressively teach the danger of PKI to students. He argues that people need to be made aware of the danger of this group from an early age. "Make this momentum to constantly raise awareness about the latent danger of communism," said Legionosuko as he continued reading Prabowo's speech.

Fikri Arigi