Indonesian Civil War

The Indonesian Civil War was a conflict in Indonesia from 1965 to 1966 between forces loyal to then-President Sukarno and the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) and forces loyal to a right-wing military faction led by to General Abdul Haris Nasution and Maj. Gen. Suharto. On the pretext of stopping a communist coup, Nasution and Suharto led their forces to liquidate the PKI and topple the regime of Sukarno. The pivotal role of Suharto led to his assumption of the Indonesian presidency in 1967.

Prelude to civil war

Former Pres. Sukarno, in undated photoThe Indonesian Civil War came after two decades of independence and rule by the leader of the Indonesian Nationalists, President Sukarno. As president of the newly independent republic, Sukarno stressed socialist policies domestically and an avidly anti-imperialist international policy, underpinned by an authoritarian style of rule dependent upon his charismatic personality. These policies led him to create alliances with the Soviet bloc, People's Republic of China, and to pioneer the creation of the Non-Aligned Movement of post-colonial states at the Bandung Conference. It also created a domestic political alliance with the Communist Party of Indonesia.

Military split

When Sukarno rejected food aid from USAID leading to famine conditions, the right-wing military adopted regional command structure through which it could smuggle staple commodities to win the loyalty of the rural population. Several officers, including Suharto, would be caught in such schemes and would be reassigned. In an attempt to curtail the right-wing military's increasing power, the Communist Party of Indonesia and the left-wing military formed a number of peasant and other mass organizations.

Indonesia-Malaysia Confrontation

In 1963, a policy of Konfrontasi (Confrontation) against the newly formed Federation of Malaysia was announced by the Sukarno regime. This further exacerbated the split between the left-wing and right-wing military factions, with the left-wing faction and the Communist Party taking part in guerrilla raids on the border with Malaysia, while the right-wing faction largely absent from the conflict (whether by choice or orders of Sukarno is not clear).

The Confrontation further encouraged the West to seek ways to topple Sukarno, viewed as a growing threat to Southeast Asian regional stability (as with North Vietnam under the Domino Theory). The deepening of the armed conflict, coming close to all out warfare by 1965, both increased popular dissatisfaction with the Sukarno regime and strengthened the hand of the right-wing generals whose forces were still close to the center of power in Jakarta.

"G30S" and retaliation

Gen. Abdul Haris Nasution, in undated photo.Exactly what happened on October 1, 1965 continues to be unclear due to accusations and counter-accusations by the various actors involved. The undisputed facts are that in the early hours of that day, a company of soldiers from the Palace Guard, the Tjakrabirawa, raided the homes of seven of the right-wing anti-Communist generals in the Indonesian capital Jakarta.

Three of the generals were killed immediately and another three captured. A seventh target, the Defense Minister and Chief-of-Staff of the Indonesian Armed Forces, General Abdul Haris Nasution escaped; his daughter, however, was fatally wounded. General Ahmad Yani, another high ranking army officer, was also captured. The three captured generals and the bodies of the others were taken to a place known as Lubang Buaya ("Crocodile Hole") near the Halim Air Force Base in Jakarta. The three generals and Nasution's adjutant, Captain Pierre Tandean (who claimed he was Nasution to divert the attention of the kidnapping soldiers and allowed Nasution to escape), were subsequently killed and all the bodies were thrown down a well.

Accusations and counter-accusations

The Palace Guards, led by Lt. Col. Untung Syamsuri, claimed that those assassinated belonged to a conspiracy, the "Council of Generals", that had plotted a military coup against the government of President Sukarno. They further alleged that this coup was to take place on "Army Day" (October 5) with the backing of CIA, and that the Council would then install themselves as a military junta.

The guards had not attempted to kill or capture another of the right-wing generals, Major General Suharto, commander of KOSTRAD, the army stategic reserve. Suharto, along with the surviving General Nasution, made the counter-allegation that the Palace Guards were a part of a conspiracy, the "30th of September Movement" (in bahasa Indonesia, Gerakan 30 September, commonly abbreviated as G30S or Gestapu), that sought to replace President Sukarno's government with a Communist government.

Internal military power-struggle

After the assassinations of those generals, the highest ranking officer in the Indonesian military, and third highest in the overall chain-of-command, was Defense Minister and Armed Forces Chief-of-Staff Gen. Abdul Haris Nasution, a member of the right-wing camp. However, on October 5 Sukarno moved to promote Maj. Gen. Pranoto Reksosamudra, considered a Sukarno-loyalist, to Army Chief-of-Staff.

After the promotion, the New York Times reported that an unnamed Western "diplomatic report" alleged that Pranoto was a former member of the PKI. Pranoto's alleged communism, as well as his timely promotion, led them to promote the view that the PKI and Suharto conspired to assassinate the generals to consolidate their grip on power. (New York Times, October 6, 1965)

In the aftermath of the assassinations, however, Major Gen. Suharto and his KOSTRAD (Army Strategic Reserves) units were closest to Jakarta. By default, Suharto became the field general in charge of prosecution of the G30S. Later, at the insistence of Gen. Abdul Haris Nasution, Pranoto was removed and Suharto was promoted to Army Chief-of-Staff on October 14, 1965. (New York Times, October 15, 1965)

Retaliatory campaign

The installation of Suharto as Army Chief-of-Staff established the right-wing faction's dominance of the Indonesian Army's command. In addition to the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI), this faction was also hostile toward Sukarno-loyalists, and the Chinese (both Indonesian Chinese as well as expatriates from the People's Republic of China).

On October 18, a declaration was read over the army-controlled radio stations, banning the Communist Party of Indonesia. The ban included the party itself, and its youth and women's wings, peasant associations, intellectual and student groups, and the SOBSI union. At the time, it was not clear whether this ban applied only to Jakarta (by then controlled by the Army), or the whole Republic of Indonesia. However, the ban was soon used as a pretext for the Indonesian Army to go throughout the country carrying out extrajudicial punishments, including mass arrest and summary executions, against suspected leftists and Sukarno loyalists.

The Army, acting on orders by Suharto and supervised by Nasution, began a campaign of agitation and incitement to violence among Indonesian civilians aimed not only at Communists but the ethnic-Chinese community and toward President Sukarno himself. The regime was quickly destabilised, with the Army the only force left to maintain order. (New York Times, October 19, 1965)

Toppling of Sukarno

As Communists were driven out of government in the months afterward, the trioka of Pres. Sukarno, Nasution, and Suharto jockeyed for power. Contemporary reports state that Sukarno was politically weak and desperate to keep power in the hands of his presidency by starting a factional struggle between Gen. Nasution and Suharto, as the two were absorbed in personal ambitions.

General Nasution was believed to have launched his own bid for power on December 16, 1966, when he won appointment to the Supreme Operations Command, and gained a grip over the traditionally civilian-held portion of the military hierarchy. It was reported that Nasution would have preferred forming a military junta to replace Sukarno. (New York Times, December 16, 1965.)

However, on Feb 1, 1966, Pres. Sukarno promoted Suharto to the rank of Lieutenant General. The same month, Gen. Nasution had been forced out of his position of Defense Minister. By March, Suharto would begin the process of taking power for himself. (New York Times, February 22, 1966)

Consequences

After being promoted, Suharto was assigned emergency powers on March 11, 1966 through a presidential decree by Sukarno. He would then go on to become president in 1967. Due to Suharto-era censorship and propaganda under his New Order government, the true numbers and ennumeration of casualties from the Civil War are heavily disputed. The estimates of the death toll of the conflict range from over 100,000 to 1.5 million. Other effects of the Indonesian Civil War, however, can be understood in the light of greater press freedom in the post-Suharto era.

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