Toughening International Response Needed to Widening Crackdown

In the aftermath of rioting on July 27, 1996, in Jakarta, a massive crackdown was conducted by the Indonesian internal security apparatus, targeting young student activists suspected of involvement in organizations collectively branded by the army as the "new PKI" [Indonesian Communist Party]. These organizations have been blamed for masterminding the riot and for using the political movement supporting opposition politician Megawati Soekarnoputri to pursue their own political agenda. The government has used the first charge, for which it has produced no evidence, to divert attention from its own role in ousting Megawati from her position as chair of the Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) and storming PDI headquarters while it was occupied by her supporters, the act that led to the riot in the first place. The effort to mobilize the Indonesian public against a purported communist threat from within also diverts attention from the number of dead and missing in the aftermath of the riot and the extent of popular discontent with the Soeharto government. The report looks at the pattern of some two dozen political arrests across Java and Sumatra. Except for labor leader Muchtar Pakpahan, all of those detained as of August 15, 1996 were students in their twenties from both private and state universities. Most were well-known to the police, having been arrested before while participating in strikes, demonstrations, or other political actions.

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