Vaudine England, Jakarta – A spate of recent anti-communist incidents and violent threats is part of a plot to destroy Indonesia's fledgling democracy, philosophers and activists say.

"It smells of the New Order," said Dr Franz Magnis Suseno, in a reference to the brutally anti-communist regime of former president Suharto.

"The mentality of the military during the Suharto era has curious parallels to this current campaign." Dr Suseno's book about the development of Marxist thought is one of several volumes about communism which were burned three weeks ago by a previously unknown group called the Islam Youth Movement (GPI).

Last week, the country's leading publishing and book-selling chain, Gramedia, withdrew more than 30 titles about communism from its shelves due to threats by the same group. Other bookshops are following suit.

"Conditions right now are extremely sensitive ... the consequences could be extreme if something happens, so we're taking preventative measures," said Gramedia's national sales supervisor.

Along with Dr Suseno's book, all those by the country's leading novelist, Pramoedya Ananta Toer, are also being targeted, as are works by political analyst Hermawan Sulistyo. Pramoedya was a member of a leftist cultural group in the 1960s and was imprisoned by Suharto for 14 years.

The GPI is threatening to conduct vigilante sweeps against all book shops in the country on May 20, Indonesia's National Awakening Day. "All of our people, around 36,000 in greater Jakarta, will move on that day to show our commitment to fight against communism," GPI chairman H. M. Suaib said.

The term "communist" is heavily loaded in Indonesia. Suharto's rise to power was on the back of an alleged communist coup in 1965, and was followed by mass murders of alleged communists in 1966-67 which left at least half a million dead. Suharto banned the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), the largest in Asia outside China. Descendants of alleged communists faced discrimination and intimidation during the Suharto era. By contrast, President Abdurrahman Wahid called for the decriminalisation of communism early in his rule.

Dr Suseno said the current rise of anti-communism was a retrograde step designed to act as a smokescreen for an anti-democracy movement. "It is a deliberate attempt to, on the one hand, mobilise an anti-communist frenzy, and on the other hand, to obscure where the real danger comes from," said Dr Suseno.