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Communism in Sumatra has historically had an influence in the politics and society of Sumatra. Padang, Pariaman, Silungkang, Sawah Lunto, Alahan Panjang, and Suliki of West Sumatra have been cited as an area which was particular active in communism. [1]
In May 1914, Hendricus Sneevliet (alias Maring) established the Indies Social-Democratic Association (ISDV), which became the Communist Association of the Indies (Perserikatan Komunis di Hindia) in May 1920 and the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) in 1924. [2] Backed by the Communist International (Comintern) in Moscow, the PKI became active among trade unionists and rural villagers in Sumatra. In 1926 and 1927, despite advice by Tan Malaka, a Comintern agent from Sumatra, to the contrary, local leaders instigated rural insurrections in western Java and Sumatra. [2] The government moved decisively to crush the insurrections and imprison communist leaders. [2] Some, like Tan Malaka, fled into exile. But 1,300 communists were exiled to the grim Boven Digul penal colony in West New Guinea. [2] The PKI all but disappeared, not to be an important actor on the political stage until after independence. [2] Perhaps the most prominent outbreak was the 1927 Communist Uprising in Sumatra. [3] When the Japanese invaded Sumatra in 1942, the Communist party in North Sumatra refrained from joining in the resistance against the Japanese. [4]
Incidentally, Hadji Abdullah Ahmad, a noted anti-communist and religious leader was from the Minangkabau Highlands, where communism was active. [5] Numerous examples of anti-communist resentment also occurred, for instance during the Indonesian killings of 1965–1966, PKI-organised squatters' movements and campaigns against foreign businesses in Sumatra's plantations provoked quick reprisals against Communists.
Repression against alleged PKI members and sympathizers continued for several years. As late as 1976 mass lay-offs of former members of the communist plantation workers' union Sarbupri members took place in Sumatra, actions motivated by the communist past of these individuals. [6]
During the PRRI rebellion, the insurgents arrested leftist activists and placed them in detention camps in West Sumatra. PKI cadres were detained at Situjuh and Suliki, whilst followers of the national communist Murba Party and other groups were detained at the Muara Labuh camp. [7]
In the northernmost province of Sumatra, Aceh, PKI was rather weak in the heyday of the party. [8] [9] There were around 2,000-3,000 communists in Aceh during the early 1960s. [10] The party membership was largely made up by Javanese migrant labourers, such as plantation and railway workers. [8] [9] The establishment of PKI in Aceh was met with stern resistance from the local ulema . [8] Notably PKI had opposed giving provincial status to Aceh, a position that isolated the party in Acehnese politics. [11] When an armed rebellion, seeking the establishment of an Islamic state in Aceh, broke out in 1951 many PKI members left Aceh. [12]
When a provincial DPRD (council) for Aceh was appointed by the Minister of Home Affairs in January 1957, PKI was allocated one out of thirty seats. [13] In 1961 a new provincial DPRD was appointed, with two seats for PKI. [14]
The first massacres of PKI sympathizers during the 1965-1966 took place in Aceh. Reports emerged from Aceh that thousands were killed in the massacres, in which entire families of alleged PKI sympathizers along with their domestic servants were annihilated. [15] The First Secretary of the PKI branch in Aceh, Samikidin, was executed. [16] An all-Acehnese conference ulema and military officers held December 15–16, 1965 issued a fatwa stating that any Muslim that died in combat with PKI would be considered a martyr. Moreover, the conference labelled communism haram and called for the abolition of PKI. Through provincial legislation PKI was formally banned in Aceh in December 1965, whilst the party was only formally banned in the rest of Indonesia in March 1966. [8]
An East Sumatra District Committee of PKI was set up in 1950. A. Indigo, Abdullah Nst., B. Siagian, Ngalimum and Hasan Raid were leading figures of the District Committee. [17] By the early 1960s, PKI had a mass following in the plantation areas of East Sumatra. The party was, organizationally speaking, the strongest political force in the area at the time. [18]
Aceh, officially the Aceh Province is the westernmost province of Indonesia. It is located on the northernmost of Sumatra island, with Banda Aceh being its capital and largest city. Granted a special autonomous status, Aceh is a religiously conservative territory and the only Indonesian province practicing the Sharia law officially. There are ten indigenous ethnic groups in this region, the largest being the Acehnese people, accounting for approximately 80% to 90% of the region's population.
The Free Aceh Movement was a separatist group seeking independence for the Aceh region of Sumatra, Indonesia. GAM fought against Indonesian government forces in the Aceh insurgency from 1976 to 2005, during which over 15,000 lives are believed to have been lost.
The Aceh War, also known as the Dutch War or the Infidel War (1873–1904), was an armed military conflict between the Sultanate of Aceh and the Kingdom of the Netherlands which was triggered by discussions between representatives of Aceh and the United States in Singapore during early 1873. The war was part of a series of conflicts in the late 19th century that consolidated Dutch rule over modern-day Indonesia.
The Communist Party of Indonesia was a communist party in Indonesia during the mid-20th century. 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 independence until the eradication of the PKI in 1965, it was a legal party operating openly in the country.
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Tan Malaka was an Indonesian teacher, philosopher, founder of Struggle Union and Murba Party, independent guerrilla, Indonesian fighter, and national hero. Tempo credited him as Father of the Republic of Indonesia.
Munawar Musso was a leader of the Communist Party of Indonesia and one of the key figures in the 1948 Madiun affair.
Guided Democracy was the political system in place in Indonesia from 1959 until the New Order began in 1966. It was the brainchild of President Sukarno, and was an attempt to bring about political stability. Sukarno believed that the parliamentarian system implemented during the Liberal Democracy period was ineffective due to Indonesia's divisive political situation at that time. Instead, he sought a system based on the traditional village system of discussion and consensus, which occurred under the guidance of village elders. With the declaration of martial law and the introduction of this system, Indonesia returned to the presidential system and Sukarno became the head of government again.
The insurgency in Aceh, officially designated the Rebellion in Aceh by the Indonesian government, was a conflict fought by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) between 1976 and 2005, with the goal of making the province of Aceh independent from Indonesia. The aftermath of a strong military offensive in 2003 and the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake brought a peace agreement and an end to the insurgency.
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.
Sjafruddin Prawiranegara was an Indonesian statesman and economist. He served as the head of government in the Emergency Government of the Republic of Indonesia, as Minister of Finance in several cabinets, and was the first Governor of Bank Indonesia between 1951 and 1958. He then became the prime minister of the Revolutionary Government of the Republic of Indonesia, a shadow government set up in opposition to the country's central government. Originating from Banten with Minangkabau ancestry, Sjafruddin became active in politics after his education in law. By 1940, he was working at a tax office, and joined the nationalist movements during the Japanese occupation of 1942–1945. Due to his closeness to the revolutionary leader Sutan Sjahrir, he was appointed finance minister in the Republican government during the Indonesian National Revolution of 1945–1949.
The Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66, also known as the Indonesian genocide, Indonesian Communist Purge, or Indonesian politicide, were large-scale killings and civil unrest that occurred in Indonesia over several months, targeting Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) party members, communist sympathisers, Gerwani women, ethnic Javanese Abangan, ethnic Chinese, atheists, alleged "unbelievers" and alleged leftists, often at the instigation of the armed forces and government, which were supported by the United States and other Western countries. It began as an anti-communist purge following a controversial attempted coup d'état by the 30 September Movement. 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 purge was a pivotal event in the transition to the "New Order" and the elimination of PKI as a political force, with impacts on the global Cold War. The upheavals led to the fall of President Sukarno and the commencement of Suharto's three-decade authoritarian presidency.
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The Acoma Party was a communist party in Indonesia. It evolved out of the Young Communist Force. Acoma was converted into Partai Acoma on 8 August 1952. Acoma/Partai Acoma was led by Ibnu Parna.
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