Australia's Post WW2 Relation with Indonesia

Australia’s Post WWII Relations with Indonesia
Australian Defence Force Journal No. 125, July/August 1997

(responsed to ‘Australia’s Post WW2 Relations with Indonesia’ by Lieutenant Commander P. Flynn, RAN)


Dear Editor,
I am writing in response to the article “Australia’s Post WWII relations with Indonesia”, in Australian Defence Force Journal, no.120. Sept/Oct 1996 by Lieutenant Commander P. Flynn. RAN.

I would like to comment on one important issue, the role of Indonesian Chinese in the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

Not many articles published in Australia on Indonesian issues are encouraging. Then I said to myself: Gee, I wish this article was published by The Age or The Australian which are read by Australian people nationally. Then the misunderstanding between two countries could be reduced to a level of harmony”. Especially, the article was written by a member of the Australian Armed Forces. Unfortunatelly, the Australian Defence Force Journal is read by members of Armed Forces only or people who work with the ADF. The readers are limited!

But there is one point in which the author makes one single error which is “….the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), whose membership consisted to a large extent of ethnic Chinese”. It is not true! The majority of Indonesian Communist Party’s members are Indonesian – from all walks of life such as : farmers, train workers, intellectuals, members of Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI). Most support comes from farmers and train workers and only a few (or none) ethnic Chinese who were farmers or train workers.

For an example, non 23 May 1964, the Chairman of PKI, Aidit, together with 58 members of high ranking PKI officials went to villages (turba = turun ke bawah) to find out and to prove that the majority of poor peasants supported PKI’s programs against landlords.

At the time, Indonesia was still an agrarian society. Therefore, there were ethnic Chinese who became members of PKI, but they were a minority!

There was Baperki (Badan Permusyawaratan Kewarganegaraan Indonesia – Indonesian Citizenship Consultative Council) founded on March 13, 1954 by a Chinese Indonesian, Siauw Gik Tjahn, a close associate of PKI, and it was a small ethnic Chinese social organisation with the majority of the members being ethnic Chinese. Lee William in “The Future of the Overseas on South East Asia” stated that “Baperki until banned in 1965, the most important organisation of ethnic Chinese community”. (Oei Tjoe Tat, 1995 : 79). The party was banned because the party was pro-Soekarno.

It may be true that the PKI was funded by the rich Chinese businessmen. Doak Barnett reported in 1955 that it was a belief in Indonesia that the contribution from Chinese businessmen “make up a significant source of PKI ample political funds” (Hindley :117).

Kahin also mentioned that PKI taps the Chinese business community for “substantial funds”. Some Chinese pay willingly, but undoubtedly they usually do so because of persuasion or pressure from the Chinese embassy or pressure from the Communist controlled labor unions and the threat of retaliatory in case of non-compliance (Hindley: 117).

Therefore, it was true that a substantial part of PKI funds come from the large Chinese business community but their membership in the party was a minority.

(Ditolak diterbitkan dengan alasan ‘don’t rock the boat’ untuk
menjaga keharmonisan etnis di Australia)