Indonesian Communism's Expansionist Role in Southeast Asia
| Author | Justus M. van der Kroef |
| Published date | 01 June 1965 |
| Date | 01 June 1965 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002070206502000204 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
Indonesian
Communism's
Expansionist
Role
in
Southeast
Asia
Justus
M.
van
der
Kroef*
Perhaps
the
most
significant
aspect
of
Indonesia's
current
"con-
frontation"
campaign
against
Malaysia
has
been
the
role
of
the
Indonesian Communist
Party
(Partai
Komunis Indonesia-PKI)
in
it.
At
the
close of
1961,
well
over a
year
before
the
Indonesian
government
launched
its
own
official
campaign
of
opposition,
the
PKI
had
begun
its
own
attacks
on
the
concept
of
a
Malaysian
Federation,
branding
it
a
"neo-colonist"
concept,
"an
unaccept-
able
colonial
intrigue,"
and
so
on.
1
As
has
been
detailed
else-
where,
the
PKI's
campaign
gained
accelerated support
from
various
other
power
centres
in
Indonesia,
notably
the
Presidency
and
the
Army.
2
By
means
of
the
anti-Malaysia
strategy
the
PKI
first
of
all
managed
to
recapture
much
political
initiative
by
breaking
through
earlier,
largely
Army
imposed
restrictions
on
its
operations,
and
since
1962
has
risen
gradually
but
steadily
to
new levels
of
power,
succeeding
in
removing
anti-Communist
Army
commanders and
high
ranking
regional
officials
from
office,
and
bringing
about
the
appointment
of
its
own
supporters
in
important
diplomatic
and
other
governmental
posts,
including
the
cabinet.
3
Secondly,
through
the
anti-Malaysia
confrontation
campaign
the
PKI
assisted
in
aligning
Indonesia
increasingly
*
Department
of
Political
Science,
University
of
Bridgeport.
1
See
Harian Rakjat
(Djakarta),
August
31,
1961;
Strengthen National
Unity
and Communist
Unity.
Documents
of
the
Third
Plenum
of
the
Central
Committee
of
the
Communist
Party
of
Indonesia,
Djakarta,
end
December
1961
(Djakarta,
1962),
pp.
58-61;
and
Resolusi Kongres
Nasional
ki-VII
(Luarbiasa)
Partai
Komunis
Indonesia (Djakarta,
1962),
p.
60.
2
Justus
M.
van
der
Kroef, "The
Sino-Indonesian
Partnership,"
Orbis,
vol.
8 (1964),
pp.
332-356.
3
Herbert
Feith, "President
Soekarno,
the
Army
and
the
Communists:
The
Triangle
Changes
Shape,"
Asian
Survey,
August
1964,
pp.
969-980.
It
should
be
emphasized
that
the PKI's steady
resurgence
can
be
traced
as
of
the
end of
1962;
the
party's
present
eminence
was
not
the result
of
a
sudden
"distinct
new
swing
to
the left"
in
September,
1963,
as
Feith
asserts.
See
also
my
The
Communist
Party
of Indo-
nesia.
Its
History,
Program
and Tactics
(University
of
British
Columbia
Publications Centre,
Vancouver,
in press), chapters
VI-VII.
190
INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL
with
the
foreign
policy
of
Communist
China
particularly
at
recent
African-Asian
"solidarity"
conferences,
and
today
Sukar-
no's vehement denunciations
of
the
United
States'
"imperialist
policies"
in
Cambodia,
Laos,
Viet
Nam and
Latin
America
are
nowhere cited
so
approvingly
as
in
the
Peking
press.
4
As
the
Malaysian
government
has
recently
emphasized,
the
PKI's
efforts
to
influence
events
in
Malaya
are
not
of
recent
origin
but
go
back
at
least
to
the
middle
1940s,
5
nor
is
the
PKI's
involvement in
foreign
underground
revolutionary
activity
lim-
ited
to
Malaysia,
but,
as
will
be
indicated,
today
reaches
out
to
Thailand
and
the
Philippines.
However,
the
formulation
of
Indo-
nesian Communism's
particular
role
in
Southeast
Asian
affairs
is
a
matter
of
the
last year
or
so,
and
is
inseparable
from
the
PKI's
progressively
stronger
commitment to
the
policies
of
Peking
in
relation to
the
latter's
dispute
with
Moscow.
I
It
was
on
September
29,
1963,
just
after
he
returned
from
Peking
(the
last
leg
of
a
tour
of
Communist
countries
that
had
taken
him
to
Cuba,
the
Soviet
Union,
East
Germany,
North
Korea,
as
well
as
Communist
China)
that
PKI chairman
Aidit
announced
that
Asia
in
general
and
particularly
Southeast
Asia,
"where
the
sound
of
gunfire has
not
stopped
since
the
end
of
World
War
II,"
had
become
the
scene
of
"the
most
acute
anti-
imperialist
struggle.
'
"6
Given
the
presence
in
Southeast
Asia
of
influential Communist
parties,
Aidit
went
on,
"conditions,
both
objective and
subjective,
are
very
favorable in Southeast
Asia,"
so
that
the
PKI
and
other
Indonesian
revolutionaries
should
feel
fortunate
to
be
living
in
this
heartland
region
of
struggle
against
world
imperialism. Stressing
his
opposition
to
"revisionism,"
Aidit
declared
that
in
the
international
com-
munist
movement
today
there are
four types
of
parties:
(1)
Marxist-Leninist
Parties,
(2)
parties
controlled by
"revisionist"
leaders
within
which
there
is
"Marxist-Leninist
opposition,"
(3)
completely
"revisionist
parties"
whose
expelled
members
have
set
up
"Marxist-Leninist"
organizations;
(4)
parties
wholly
under
4
Cf.,
e.g.,
Peking
Review,
August
21, 1964,
pp.
28-29,
and
September
4,
1964,
pp.
30-31.
5
See
the
Malaysian
Government's
"White
Paper"
entitled
Indonesian
Intentions
Towards
Malaysia
(Kuala
Lumpur,
1964),
esp.
pp.
3,
8
and
22.
6
See
the
essay
"Gerakan
Komunis
Internasional
dan
Revolusi
Asia
Tenggara,"
pp.
24-30,
in
D.
N.
Aidit,
Langit
Takkan Runtuh
(Dja-
karta,
1963),
and
Peking
Review,
October
11,
1963,
pp.
17-18.
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