Asmu

Last updated

Asmu, whose birth name was Asmoe Tjiptodarsono, was a leader, theoretician, and chief agricultural expert of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) and head of the Communist-affiliated Peasants Front of Indonesia (Indonesian : Barisan Tani Indonesia) in the mid-1960s. [1] He was killed during the Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66.

Contents

Biography

Asmu's background and early life are poorly documented.

In the late 1940s and early 1950s, along with Sakirman, Asmu led the Labour Party of Indonesia (Indonesian : Partai Boeroeh Indonesia). [2] [3] At around the same time, following the Madiun Affair, there was a new generation of younger leaders who rose up the ranks of the Communist Party, led by D. N. Aidit, and Asmu became a member of that new leading faction. [1] Asmu was also briefly involved in the People's Democratic Front (Indonesian : Front Demokrasi Rakjat), a short-lived leftist coalition, as representative of Laskar Boeroeh Indonesia. [4] In 1952 Asmu and Subekti were the PKI delegates to the 19th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union. [5]

At the turn of the 1960s, as the PKI's agricultural expert, he was concerned that land ownership was being increasingly concentrated in fewer and fewer hands, and advocated nationalizing foreign landholdings and abolishing the land privileges given to village heads. [6] [7] In his published studies, he attempted to prove that, in many villages, under ten percent of "Feudal" families owned more than half the land. [8] He made an effort to communicate his findings to the public and to PKI members; he ran a question and answer column in the party newspaper Harian Rakjat starting in 1961, some of which was later published as one of his better known books, Masalah-masalah Landreform (Problems of Land Reform). [6] [9] (He continued the column until 1965. [6] ) In July 1962, he was elected to be general chairman of the Peasants Front of Indonesia (Indonesian : Barisan Tani Indonesia). [10] Through that organization, he constantly pushed for land reform, the arming of peasant groups, and raising the level of education and income of peasants. [11] By 1964, Asmu and other PKI leaders worried that wealthier members of local PKI leadership were blocking progress on radical land redistribution plans. [12]

By 1965, he was a member of the Politburo of the PKI. [13] In January 1965 he was a member of a Supreme Advisory Council session called by Sukarno and chaired by Albert Mangaratua Tambunan which aimed to examine nonviolent land reform in Indonesia. The meeting hoped that a negotiated settlement could find a gradual way towards land reform and to bypass the violence and unilateral actions of the PKI in the countryside. [14]

Asmu's disappearance and death in the anti-communist Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66 following the September 30 Movement is poorly documented. Some newspapers later reported that he had been killed by the military in March 1966. [15] Other sources claim he was killed in an extrajudicial killing in November 1965 and that his body was in an unmarked grave in the village of Kuntji Sidareja, northwest Cilacap Regency. [16]

Selected publications

Related Research Articles

The Abangan are Javanese people who are Muslims and practice a much more syncretic version of Islam than the more orthodox santri. The term, apparently derived from the Javanese language word for red, abang, was first developed by Clifford Geertz, but the meaning has since shifted. Abangan are more inclined to follow a local system of beliefs called adat and Kebatinan than pure Sharia. Their belief system integrates Hinduism, Buddhism and animism. However, some scholars hold that what has classically been viewed as Indonesian variance from Islam is often a part of that faith in other countries. For example, Martin van Bruinessen notes similarity between adat and historical practice among Muslims in Egypt as described by Edward Lane.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Communist Party of Indonesia</span> Former political party in Indonesia

The Communist Party of Indonesia was a communist party in the Dutch East Indies and later Indonesia. It was the largest non-ruling communist party in the world before its violent disbandment in 1965. The party had two million members in the 1955 elections, with 16 percent of the national vote and almost 30 percent of the vote in East Java. During most of the period immediately following the Indonesian Independence until the eradication of the PKI in 1965, it was a legal party operating openly in the country.

People's Democratic Front was a short-lived united front of leftists in Indonesia, founded in February 1948. FDR included the Communist Party of Indonesia, the Socialist Party, Labour Party of Indonesia, SOBSI and Pesindo. The leader of FDR was Amir Sjarifuddin.

People's Youth was the youth wing of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI). The organisation was formed as the Socialist Youth of Indonesia. Initially the organisation was set up on the initiative of then Minister of Defence Amir Sjarifuddin, as the youth wing of the Socialist Party of Indonesia. A congress was held on 10 and 11 November 1945, where seven locally based youth outfits merged. Rapidly it gained a membership of around 25,000. The organisation took part in the armed struggle for independence during the Indonesian National Revolution. Pesindo units were engaged in intense street fighting during the Battle of Surabaya.

Peasants Front of Indonesia was a peasant mass organisation connected to the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI). BTI was founded 25 November 1945. The previous peasant organisation of PKI had been the Peasants Union formed in 1945. Its final general chairman was Asmu, the PKI's main agricultural analyst, who was appointed to the position in July 1962. The organization struggled for land reform, and was suppressed along with PKI in 1965.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">M. H. Lukman</span> Indonesian politician (1920–1966)

Muhammad Hatta Lukman was an Indonesian communist politician, who served as the First Deputy Chairman of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI), and a member of the People's Representative Council from 1956 until 1959. He was executed following the 1965 crackdown on the PKI.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerwani</span> 1950–1965 Indonesian communist womens organization

Gerwani was a women's organization founded as Gerwis in Semarang, Central Java, on 4 June 1950.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">30 September Movement</span> 1965 Indonesian military faction that attempted a coup

The Thirtieth of September Movement was a self-proclaimed organization of Indonesian National Armed Forces members. In the early hours of 1 October 1965, they assassinated six Indonesian Army generals in an abortive coup d'état. Later that morning, the organisation declared that it was in control of media and communication outlets and had taken President Sukarno under its protection. By the end of the day, the coup attempt had failed in Jakarta. Meanwhile, in central Java there was an attempt to take control over an army division and several cities. By the time this rebellion was put down, two more senior officers were dead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">D. N. Aidit</span> Indonesian communist politician (1923–1965)

Dipa Nusantara Aidit was an Indonesian communist politician, who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) from 1951 until his summary execution during the mass killings of 1965–66. Born on Belitung Island, he was nicknamed "Amat".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Musso</span> Leader of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI)

Munawar Musso was a leader of the Communist Party of Indonesia and one of the key figures in the 1948 Madiun affair.

This is a list of activities carried out by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency in Indonesia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Njoto</span> Indonesian communist politician (1927–1965)

Lukman Njoto or Njoto was a senior national leader of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI), who joined the party shortly after the country's declaration of independence, and was killed following the 1965 coup attempt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Madiun Affair</span> Conflict between the Indonesian government and the leftist opposition group led by the PKI in 1948

The Madiun Affair, known locally as the Communist Party of Indonesia rebellion of 1948, was an armed conflict between the government of the self-proclaimed Republic of Indonesia and the left-wing opposition group Front Demokrasi Rakyat during the Indonesian National Revolution. The conflict began on September 18, 1948, in Madiun, East Java, and ended three months later when most FDR leaders and members were detained and executed by TNI forces.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66</span> Anti-communist killings and unrest in Indonesia following a coup détat attempt

Large-scale killings and civil unrest primarily targeting members of the Communist Party (PKI) were carried out in Indonesia from 1965 to 1966. Other affected groups included alleged communist sympathisers, Gerwani women, trade unionists, ethnic Javanese Abangan, ethnic Chinese, atheists, so-called "unbelievers", and alleged leftists in general. According to the most widely published estimates at least 500,000 to 1.2 million people were killed, with some estimates going as high as two to three million. The atrocities, sometimes described as a genocide or politicide, were instigated by the Indonesian Army under Suharto. Research and declassified documents demonstrate the Indonesian authorities received support from foreign countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National People's Party (Indonesia)</span> Political party in Indonesia (1950–1961)

The National People's Party, initially founded as the Indonesian National Party–Independent, was a political party in Indonesia. It was founded on 23 July 1950 after a split within the Indonesian National Party (PNI). The divisions with the PNI had appeared at the party congress in May the same year, when Sidik Djojosukarto's followers had emerged victorious. Djody Gondokusumo was the chairman of the party.

Serbaud, short for Serikat Buruh Angkatan Udara, was a trade union of air transport employees and workers in Indonesia. Serbaud was affiliated to the trade union centre SOBSI, which was linked to the Communist Party of Indonesia. Serbaud was estimated to have less than 3,000 members.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indonesian communist exiles in Tirana</span> Political refugees in Albania

Following the military take-over in Indonesia and the massacres of 1965–66, the Albanian capital Tirana became one of the main hubs for exiled members and sympathizers of the pro-Chinese wing of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI). According to prof. Justus van der Kroef there were about forty Indonesian communists staying in Tirana in the early 1970s, around half of them organized in the Persatuan Peladjar Indonesia. The Tirana-based group often acted as spokespersons of the party.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wikana</span> Indonesian independence leader (1914–1966)

Wikana was an Indonesian minister and independence leader. He was one of the youths who forced Sukarno and Hatta to declare independence immediately after the surrender of the Japanese. He was the first Indonesian Minister of Youth and Sport. He was a member of the Indonesian Communist Party. Sometime after the 1965 coup d'état attempt, he was arrested and went missing, it is supposed that he was one of the assassinated in the Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66.

Oloan Hutapea, also known as B. O. Hutapea, was a high-ranking member of the Indonesian Communist Party and one of its major theoreticians during the height of its power, and was leader of a clandestine wing of the party in 1967-8 during the Transition to the New Order.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aliarcham</span> Indonesian communist politician

Aliarcham (c.1901-1933) was a Sarekat Islam and Indonesian Communist Party party leader, activist and theoretician in the Dutch East Indies. He was a major figure behind the PKI's turn to more radical policies in the mid-1920s. He was arrested by Dutch authorities in 1925 and exiled to the Boven-Digoel concentration camp, where he died in 1933. He became a well-known Martyr, especially among Communists and Indonesian nationalists.

References

  1. 1 2 Van der Kroef, Justus Maria (1965). The Communist Party of Indonesia: its history, program and tactics. Hong Kong: Cathay Press. p. 55.
  2. ↑ Hindley, Donald (1964). The Communist Party of Indonesia, 1951-1963. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 22. ISBN   9780520005617.
  3. ↑ "Stijgende spanning te Delanggoe". Nieuwe courant (in Dutch). 1948-07-15.
  4. ↑ Drooglever, P. J.; Schouten, M. J. B. (1988). Officiële bescheiden betreffende de Nederlands-Indonesische betrekkingen 1945-1950 (in Dutch). Nijhoff. p. 366. ISBN   978-90-6890-215-0.
  5. ↑ Efimova, Larisa M.; McVey, Ruth T. (2011). "Stalin and the New Program for the Communist Party of Indonesia". Indonesia (91): 144. doi:10.5728/indonesia.91.0131. ISSN   0019-7289. JSTOR   10.5728/indonesia.91.0131.
  6. 1 2 3 Rakhmanto, Bambang (2018-09-28). "Harian Rakjat "Mengangkat" Suara Dari Bawah: Rubrik Asmu Menjawab Dalam Memberitakan Suara Petani Terkait Kasus Landreform 1961-1965". Indonesian Historical Studies. 2 (1): 46–60. doi: 10.14710/ihis.v2i1.3201 . ISSN   2579-4213.
  7. ↑ Van Der Kroef, Justus M. (1963). "Peasant and Land Reform in Indonesian Communism". Journal of Southeast Asian History. 4 (1): 62–6. ISSN   0217-7811. JSTOR   20067420.
  8. ↑ Törnquist, Olle (1984). Dilemmas of Third World communism : the destruction of the PKI in Indonesia. London: Zed Books. pp. 188–9. ISBN   0862322790.
  9. ↑ Mortimer, Rex (2006). Indonesian communism under Sukarno : ideology and politics, 1959-1965 (1st Equinox ed.). Jakarta: Equinox Pub. p. 291. ISBN   9789793780290.
  10. ↑ Hindley, Donald (1964). The Communist Party of Indonesia, 1951-1963. Berkeley: University of California Press. p. 169. ISBN   9780520005617.
  11. ↑ Van der Kroef, Justus Maria (1965). The Communist Party of Indonesia: its history, program and tactics. Hong Kong: Cathay Press. p. 200.
  12. ↑ Mortimer, Rex (1969). "Class, Social Cleavage and Indonesian Communism". Indonesia (8): 19. doi:10.2307/3350667. hdl: 1813/53465 . ISSN   0019-7289. JSTOR   3350667.
  13. ↑ Roosa, John (2006). Pretext for mass murder : the September 30th Movement and Suharto's coup d'état in Indonesia. Madison, Wis.: University of Wisconsin Press. p. 147. ISBN   9780299220334.
  14. ↑ Achdian, Andi (2008). TANAH BAGI YANG TAK BERTANAH: LANDREFORM PADA MASA DEMOKRASI TERPIMPIN (in Indonesian) (1 ed.). Bogor: Kekal Press. pp. 96–7.
  15. ↑ "Onderwijs in dorpen". De waarheid (in Dutch). 1971-10-28.
  16. ↑ "Ziarah Makam Mendiang Asmoe [1]". YPKP 65 (in Indonesian).
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.