Jakarta – An anti-communist group in Indonesia has said it will stage vigilante-style raids on book stores in the capital on May 20 to rid them of leftist publications, local media reports said yesterday.

"All of our people, around 36,000 in Greater Jakarta, will move on that day to show our commitment to fight against communism," said Mr H.M. Suaib, the chairman of the Islam Youth Movement (GPI).

The threat followed the disclosure on Thursday by the country's largest book store chain, Gramedia, that it was withdrawing some 20 titles deemed leftist because of threats. The titles include books by the country's most famous author, Nobel Prize nominee Pramoedya Anata Toer.

"This is to anticipate undesired incidents following threats by a Muslim group to conduct sweepings of bookshops for communist-related books," the book store's national sales supervisor, Mr Samuel, said.

"Conditions right now are extremely sensitive. We're just a normal bookstore selling books, but the consequences could be extreme if something happens so we're taking preventative measures." Mr Suaib said the raids would go ahead even if the "leftist" books had been removed from the shelves, and that the group would concentrate on forcing a halt to the production of the titles.

At its most recent rally last month the Islam Youth Movement burned books on Marxism and several groups blamed communists and leftists for the current political instability in the country.

Former Indonesian dictator Suharto introduced a blanket ban on the teaching and publishing of the works of all communist philosophies after an abortive coup attempt blamed on the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) in 1965.