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Call for ban on Marxism to remain

Source
Straits Times - March 25, 2000

Jakarta – Thirty years after the military dealt with a communist threat, the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) – the country's highest authority on Islam – is pressing the government to maintain the 34-year-old ban on the ideology and its teachings.

"Communist associations should remain banned in Indonesia because they promote atheism. MUI will never compromise with anything linked to communism or Marxism," Council Chairman Amidhan said.

His comment follows a statement by President Abdurrahman Wahid that the circumstances surrounding the 1965 coup attempt which later led to the rise to power of former president Suharto should be clarified and an amendment made.

Mr Suharto had, for 32 years, maintained that the then-powerful Indonesian Communist Party was behind the coup. He initiated a ban on communism, its party and its teachings in 1966. The ban, which was endorsed by the legislature later the same year, remains in place but a debate has since arisen over whether it should be lifted.

MUI chairman Amidhan said on Thursday, however, that public discourse should be stopped because it would only spark confusion among Muslims, who account for more than 80 per cent of Indonesia's 210 million people. He said the government and legislature should take strict measures against all sides which have organised public discussions on communism on the grounds that they have created confusion among the Muslim people. Mr Amidhan made the point that the Communist Party was behind the split of Muslim organisations and parties in the 1950s and 1960s. In a recent interview on state-run TVRI, Mr Abdurrahman said he welcomed attempts to reopen the case surrounding the coup attempt and its aftermath. He himself has apologised for the involvement of followers of Nahdlatul Ulama – a Muslim organisation he led for 15 years before being elected president last October – in the bloodshed.

The government has already allowed communist-linked Indonesians who had been forced to live in exile to return to Indonesia. But many more have not come back for fear of being arrested.

The Bishop Council of Indonesia (KWI) and the Communion of Churches in Indonesia (PGI) have yet to issue their official stand on the issue, saying that talks on communism do not top their list of priorities.

Father Notobudyo, KWI's Executive Secretary, said Indonesian bishops have not yet joined in the debate and do not intend to.

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