Sukarno & Aidit
Oct 16th, 2007, in News, by PatungPresident Sukarno and Aidit’s communist coup attempt in 1965.
Sukarno and the Indonesian Coup: The Untold Story by Helen-Louise Hunter is an account of the 1965 coup attempt based on declassified Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) documents which places the blame for the murder of six Army generals on September 30th 1965, G30S PKI, squarely on the shoulders of president Sukarno and the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI).
Sukarno and the Indonesian Coup: The Untold Story.
Hunter, who worked at the CIA’s Directorate of Intelligence for 23 years, has written what might be considered the “official” CIA version of events, said to be an account of the 1965 communist coup attempt that details the role of the PKI’s “Special Bureau”, a super-secret organization within the Communist Party that, Hunter says, conspired with President Sukarno to kill the top, pro-western, leadership of the Army and eventually proclaim a new Marxist Peoples’ Republic of Indonesia under the continuing leadership of President Sukarno, but with PKI Chairman Aidit as his named successor.
Sukarno, budding Great Leader.
Many previous accounts of the 1965 coup attempt have either entirely absolved the Communist Party of responsibility, or have admitted the PKI’s role, but without detailing president Sukarno’s prior knowledge and support of the plan, according to Hunter.
43 Comments on “Sukarno & Aidit”
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Mbak Sri says:
sad truth, but shouldnt make us a defeatist, should it?
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Burung Koel says:
Sort of back on topic:
The definitive history of what occured in 1965 has yet to be written. During the New Order it was impossible to research this period in detail, unless one was setting out to confirm the Suharto government’s standardised mythology.
Without proper historical examination, the events of 1965 become subject to all sorts of speculation. Unfortunately this happens even with well documented events like the Kennedy assassination. So by forgetting history, rather than be condemned to repeat it, we are more likely to be condemned to listen to half baked conspiracy theories. 🙂
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schmerly says:
Mbak Sri..
sad truth, but shouldnt make us a defeatist, should it?
No Sri it shouldn’t, lets just hope all future governments of this world have a bit more sense.
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Perhaps armed with knowledge of history we can reach a point where that history does not repeat itself…then again, we are only human!
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to schmerly:
This ‘history’ is part of the case record.
America & Britain are responsible for the deaths of 10+ Million since WWII alone.
They (& other Western nations) have systematically crushed democracy & freedom abroad, so that they can plunder & pillage other countries resources & force populations into sweat shop style Wage Slavery to produce cheap consumer goods for the West.
They continue to do so.
You can stand idly by & fetish your ipod if you wish. My conscience won’t let me.
CH.
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@ Capitalist Holocaust.. Another western hater.
America & Britain are responsible for the deaths of 10+ Million since WWII alone.
Can you point me in the direction from where you got these numbers from?
so that they can plunder & pillage other countries resources & force populations into sweat shop style Wage Slavery to produce cheap consumer goods for the West.
If this was true and it isn’t, what were these other countries governments doing letting it happen?
You can stand idly by & fetish your ipod if you wish. My conscience won’t let me.
Sorry I don’t own an ipod, and what is your conscience telling you to do?
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Roel says:
Most important in the recovery of facts in history is not only that we can learn from them but I think it equally important to see quite clearly if in our times someone pop’s up with a lie and we can immeaditealy trying to analyse the intention and purpose of the lies.
Succesfull being able to lie about history is a very powerfull weapon in politics
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GM
I took a look at your little slideshow. Unfortunately your contention that Indonesia was a free and fair democracy before gestapu is simply not true. Sukarno had set himself up as a dictator several years earlier – aguably democracy ended iwith the resignation of Hatta in 1956. The upper houses in the Indonesian version of parliament were appointed, not elected, in 1960.
By 1965 Sukarno had managed to destroy the economy, involved the country in a disasterous konfontasi war in sarawak, and was unable to feed his own people. One way or the other a revolution was coming.Hardly the tropical idlyic overthown by the big bad CIA that you are trying to portray.
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America & Britain are responsible for the deaths of 10+ Million since WWII alone.
I suppose that figure includes about 500,000 Indoneisans from 1965, but, I find it kind of patronising to third worlders, say Indonesians, as if they can’t be held responsible for their own actions. The CIA death lists, how many people were on them? Out of 500,000 what percentage? Yes the Americans provided assistance to the Indonesian military, although your video doesn’t seem to detail any of it, however the overwhelming responsibility for 1965 is on the shoulders of Indonesians, at the top levels of society, and also plenty at the lower levels – the CIA can’t make Javanese and Balinese villagers hack their neighbours to death, and such an ‘analysis’ as yours does nothing to help understand the deep social and religious currents and background that underpin the events, just cheap shot agitprop as far as I can see.
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Surely criticism of U.S. & British foreign policy is valid, without being denounced as a ‘western hater’.
America slaughtered 3 million in the U.S. led UN Police action in Korea, killed 3.5 million in Vietnam, 1 million in Cambodia & Laos (during mostly secret 9 year bombing campaign & support for Lon Nol’s brutal insurgency), 1 million in Indonesia & E.Timor (supporting & arming Suharto), 500,000+ in S.America (via CIA installed dictators), 1.3 million in U.S. led UN sanctions against Iraq (UN figures), 300,000 slaughtered in 1st Gulf War stopping Saddam attempting to do exactly what the U.S. had done 1 year earlier in Panama (invade & install a puppet regime), etc, etc, etc,
Check out my video: “The United States of Holocaust deniers” on u tube for reliable historian’s estimates.
America has overthrown 50 government’s since WWII, including many democracies such as Iran in ’53, Guatemala in ’54, Brazil in ’64, Greece in ’67, Chile in ’73, etc. (These are backed up with irrefutable evidence, ie declassified CIA documents acknowledging it).
The U.S. overthrew 18 Govts in S.America alone. What do you think the countries did? The populations were tortured into submission by the U.S. installed fascist dictators. Don’t you read anything beyond the doctrinal line in the ‘free press’ (owned by rich elites who profit from Imperialism)?
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to pjbali63:
The administration of Martial Law in ’57 was suggested to Sukarno & supervised by Nasution, the most pro-U.S. Indonesian Army General. It came during the period of CIA subversion & then the Permesta Rebellions, which US & Britain supported. A U.S. pilot was even shot down during the Western financed ‘uprisings’.
Sukarno reintroduced the ’45 Presidential constitution in ’59 on the strong urging of the Army, most of which were in bed with the U.S. & profiting from the Civic Action campaign America had started as a way of subverting Indonesia democracy (see the US congress Church hearings).
It’s no wonder the economy was failing, the Army was siphoning off funds from the businesses it commandeered from the Dutch, instead of it going to Government or the people. These resources represented some of the countries most profitable concerns.
The Army & even the U.S. were happy with “Guided Democracy” as it stopped the Communists from coming to power in elections.
Plus, Indonesia was in crisis. The U.S. had been subverting democracy in Indonesia long before ’57. They even attempted to assissinate Sukarno (see Church hearings again). Thousands of Indonesian Military officers had been trained in the U.S. including later members of G30S. The RAND & FORD Foundations were heavily involved.
Plus you can’t deny that Sukarno was unbelievably popular in Indonesia. This is why America recognized a direct coup against him wouldn’t work & unleashed what Ralph Mcgehee (ex CIA) called “CIA [one word censored] operations”.
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D Kennedy says:
Hunter’s unintelligent book is nonsense.
I wrote my thesis on the coup
It was backed by the CIA and the Indonesian Generals
They murdered half a million people
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Mbak Sri.. That’s the problem we don’t learn, unfortunately.