-Caveat Lector- from alt.politics.org.cia ----- As always, Caveat Lector. Om K ----- <A HREF="aol://5863:126/alt.politics.org.cia:40516">How we destroyed Sukarno </A> ----- Subject: How we destroyed Sukarno From: "Charles R. Mauro" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Fri, Dec 4, 1998 2:57 PM Message-id: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> December 3, 1998 ================ * How we destroyed Sukarno - The Independent * Parents of dead students seek justice - Jakarta Post * Leaders ask restraint after mosques are burned - American Reporter ------------------------------------------------------------- How we destroyed Sukarno ======================== The Independent - December 1, 1998 Paul Lashmar and Jamese Oliver -- In autumn 1965, Norman Reddaway, a lean and erudite rising star of the Foreign Office, was briefed for a special mission. The British Ambassador to Indonesia, Sir Andrew Gilchrist, had just visited London for discussions with the head of the Foreign Office, Joe Garner. Covert operations to under-mine Sukarno, the troublesome and independently minded President of Indonesia, were not going well. Garner was persuaded to send Reddaway, the FO's propaganda expert, to Indonesia. His task: to take on anti-Sukarno propaganda operations run by the Foreign Office and M16. Garner gave Reddaway #100,000 in cash "to do anything I could do to get rid of Sukarno", he says. Reddaway thus joined the loose amalgam of groups from the Foreign Office, M16, the State Department and the CIA in the Far East, all striving to depose Sukarno in diffuse and devious ways. For the next six months he and his colleagues chipped away at Sukarno's regime, undermining his reputation and assisting his enemies in the army. By March 1966 Sukarno's power base was in tatters and he was forced to hand over his presidential authority to General Suharto, the head of the army, who was already running a campaign of mass murder against alleged communists. According to Reddaway, the overthrow of Sukarno was one of the Foreign Office's "most successful" coups, which they have kept a secret until now. The British intervention in Indonesia, alongside complimentary CIA operations, shows how far the Foreign Office was prepared to go in intervening in other countries' affairs during the Cold War. Indonesia was important both economically and strategically. In 1952 the US noted that if Indonesia fell out of Western influence, neighbours such as Malaya might follow, resulting in the loss of the "principle world source of natural rubber and tin and a producer of petroleum other strategically important commodities". The Japanese occupation during the Second World War, which to the Indonesians amounted to another period of colonial rule, had revitalised the nationalist movement which after the war, declared independence and assumed power. Ahmed Sukarno became Indonesia's first president. Western concern regarding Sukarno's regime grew owing to the strength of the Indonesian communist party, the PKI, which at its peak had a membership of over 10 million, the largest communist party in the non-communist world. Concerns were not allayed by Sukarno's internal and external policies, including nationalising Western assets and a governmental role for the PKI. By the early Sixties Sukarno had become a major thorn in the side of both the British and the Americans. They believed there was a real danger that Indonesia would fall to the communists. To balance the army's growing power, Sukarno aligned himself closer the PKI. The first indication of British interest in removing Sukarno appears in a CIA memorandum of 1962. Prime Minister Macmillan and President Kennedy agreed to "liquidate President Sukarno, depending on the situation and available opportunities". Hostility to Sukarno was intensified by Indonesian objections to the Malaysian Federation. Sukarno complained the project was "a neo-colonial plot, pointing out that the Federation was a project for Malayan expansionism and continuing British influence in the region. In 1963 his objections crystallised in his policy of Konfrontasi, a breaking off of all relations with Malaysia, soon coupled with low-level military intervention. A protracted border war began along the 700 milelong front in Borneo. According to Foreign Office sources the decision to get rid of Sukarno had been taken by Macmillan's Conservative government and carried through during Wilson's 1964 Labour government. The Foreign Office had worked in conjunction with their American counterparts on a plan to oust the turbulent Sukarno. A covert operation and psychological warfare strategy was instigated, based at Phoenix Park in Singapore, the British headquarters in the region. The M16 team kept close links with key elements in the Indonesian army through the British Embassy. One of these was Ali Murtopo, later General Suharto's intelligence chief, and M16 officers constantly travelled back and forth between Singapore and Jakarta. The Foreign Office's Information Research Department (IRD) also worked out of Phoenix Park reinforcing the work of Mi6 and the military psychological warfare experts. IRD had been established by the Labour government in 1948 to conduct an anti-communist propaganda war against the Soviets, but had swiftly become enlisted in various anti-independence movement operations in the declining British Empire. By the Sixties, IRD had a staff of around 400 in London and in-formation officers around the world influencing media coverage in areas of British interest. According to Roland Challis, the BBC correspondent at the time in Singapore, journalists were open to manipulation by IRD, owing, ironically, to Sukarno's own policies: "In a curious way, by keeping correspondents out of the country Sukarno made them the victims of official channels, because almost the only information you could get was from the British ambassador in Jakarta." The opportunity to isolate Sukarno and the PKI came in October 1965 when an alleged PKI coup attempt was the pretext for the army to sideline Sukarno and eradicate the PKI. Who exactly instigated the coup and for what purposes remains a matter of speculation. However, within days the coup had been crushed and the army was firmly in control. Suharto accused the PKI of being behind the coup and set about suppressing them. Following the attempted coup Britain set about exploiting the situation. On 5 October, Alec Adams, political adviser to the Commander-in-Chief, Far East, advised the Foreign Office: "We should have no hesitation in doing what we can surreptitiously to blacken the PKI in the eyes of the army and the people of Indonesia." The Foreign Office agreed and suggested "suitable propaganda themes" such as PKI atrocities and Chinese intervention. One of the main themes pursued by IRD was the threat posed by the PKI and "Chinese communists". Newspaper reports continually emphasised the danger of the PKI. Drawing upon their experience in Malaya in the Fifties, the British emphasised the Chinese nature of the communist threat. Roland Challis said: "One of the more successful things which the West wished on to the non- communist politicians in Indonesia was to transfer the whole idea of communism onto the Chinese minority in Indonesia. It turned it into an ethnic thing. It is a terrible thing to have done to incite the Indonesians to rise and slaughter the Chinese." But it was the involvement of Sukarno with the PKI in the bloody months following the coup that was to be the British trump card. According to Reddaway: "The communist leader, Aidit, went on the run and Sukarno, being a great politician, went to the front of the palace and said that the communist leader Aidit must be hunted down and brought to justice. From the side door of the palace, he was dealing with him every day by courier." This information was revealed by the signal intelligence of Britain's GCHQ. The Indonesians didn't have a clue about radio silence and this double-dealing was picked up by GCHQ; the British had its main eavesdropping base in Hong Kong tuned into events in Indonesia. The discrediting of Sukarno was of fundamental importance. Sukarno remained a respected and popular leader against whom Suharto could not move openly until the conditions were right. The constant barrage of bad international coverage and Sukarno's plummeting political position fatally undermined him. On 10 March (sic - 11 March) 1966, Sukarno was forced to sign over his powers to General Suharto. Now perceived as closely associated with the attempted coup and the PKI, Sukarno had been discredited to the point where the army felt able to act. The PKI was eliminated as a significant force and a pro-Western military dictatorship firmly established. It was not long before Suharto quietly ended the inactive policy of Konfrontasi resulting in a swift improvement in Anglo- Indonesian relations, which continue to be close to this day. From: 'Britain's Secret Propaganda War 1948-77', by Paul Lashmar and James Oliver, to be published by Sutton on 7 December. Parents of dead students seek justice ===================================== Jakarta Post - December 2nd, 1998 Jakarta -- The parents of six students who were shot dead in the clashes between students and security forces on Nov. 13 demanded on Monday the Armed Forces (ABRI) leaders are held responsible for the incident. The parents, who have appointed the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) to represent them, said that the shootings should be thoroughly investigated. "We want justice from the government ... they should not only express apologies and condolences to the families," one of the parents, Asih Widodo, 46, told a media conference at the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation's (LBH) Office in Central Jakarta. Asih is the father of Sigit Prasetyo, 18, a student of YAI college, who was shot in the chest at the Semanggi cloverleaf on Nov. 13. Asih, a construction worker, said that Sigit was his only child. Kontras coordinator Munir said that at least 19 people, including six students were killed during a series of clashes between students and security forces on Nov. 13 and Nov. 14. He said that 11 of them died from bullet wounds. The Jakarta Post has confirmed that 16 were killed during clashes of Nov. 12 to Nov. 13, six of whom died of bullet wounds including five of the six students. Munir also said that at least six students are reported still missing. ABRI announced on Nov. 22 that about 163 soldiers were to be punished for the shootings and violent acts against student protesters in the run-up to and during the recent Special Session of the People's Consultative Assembly which ended Nov. 13. Munir, however, said that those soldiers have been made scapegoats. "Kontras believes that officials at the decision- making level within ABRI should also be held responsible for the shootings," Munir said. Students nationwide have been calling for the ouster of Minister of Defense and Security/ABRI Chief Gen. Wiranto following the shootings near the Atma Jaya University on Jl. Jen. Sudirman. Wiranto, who has repeatedly said that none of the security officers deployed at the Semanggi cloverleaf on Nov. 13 had used live bullets, told the House of Representatives on Nov. 24 that the 5.56millimeter live bullet found in a victim's body did not belong to the armory of any ABRI troop unit. ABRI spokesman Maj. Gen. Syamsul Ma'arif said earlier that the bullet had exploded into three pieces inside the victim's body. Answering questions from the foreign press on the shootings, Minister of Education and Culture Juwono Sudarsono said on Nov. 20 that "there are rogue elements within the military who are interested in further discrediting the current defense minister Gen. Wiranto". Juwono, who had just received students at his office at the time, however, did not elaborate further on who "the rogue elements within the military" were. He only said that attempts to discredit Wiranto were part of "the power struggle up in the top echelons of the government". "Faced with this ... along with criticism from the students and other dissidents ... the defense minister is in a very difficult position," Juwono had said. Munir said Monday that the Nov. 13 shootings should not end up like the fatal shooting of four Trisakti University students in May which remains a mystery. "There is a strong tradition of the government to evade accountability in cases which could lead to the correction of ABRI's dual function," Munir said. The National Commission on Human Rights set up their own team to investigate the Nov. 13 shootings last week. Deputy chairman of the rights body, Marzuki Darusman, said that the team will complement the government's explanation of the shootings pointing out that more information is required to establish who was responsible for the tragedy. Leaders ask restraint after mosques are burned ============================================== American Reporter - December 1, 1998 Andreas Harsono, Jakarta -- Indonesian Muslim and Christian leaders asked the public Tuesday to refrain from seeking reprisal against one another over attacks on more than 20 churches in Jakarta last month and the burning of several mosques in a predominantly Christian area on Monday. Abdurrahman Wahid, the chairman of the 30-million strong Nahdlatul Ulama, Indonesia's largest Muslim group, said late Monday that unnamed parties are exploiting religious sensitivities to stir up unrest in Indonesia but declined to name the suspects. "I don't think the people were from the town," Wahid said, referring to fresh unrest which broke out in Kupang on the island of Timor on Monday in which thousands of Christian protesters burned down three mosques, an Islamic school and other Muslim- owned buildings. The Christian protesters initially staged a rally in that provincial capital "to mourn" the attack on around 20 churches in Jakarta two weeks earlier. But the rally turned violent and a wild mob targeted the Nurus-Saadah mosque, the biggest mosque in Kupang, before burning the smaller Al-Taqwa and Al-Fattah mosques. Indonesian media reported that the arson was obviously in retaliation for the burning of churches in the Ketapang area in Jakarta on Nov. 22, when three churches and one Catholic school were burned down and 20 other Protestant and Catholic churches were vandalized. Frans Seda, a former finance minister and a respected Catholic figure who comes from the Timor area, also condemned the burning, saying that burning any house of worship cannot be justified, "The action is totally a blunder and does not show the civilized manner of the Indonesian people," he said. Seda also said that the church burning in Jakarta should be understood "proportionately" and "one should not emotionally blame others [Muslims]." He asked the police to arrest the arsonists. Almost 90 percent of Indonesia's 210 million population are Muslims. The Christians live mostly in the eastern part of Indonesia, which include the island of Timor. The eastern part of the island is the internationally-disputed East Timor, whose population is mostly Catholic. Many observers and foreign diplomats feared that the ongoing economic crisis -- in which 20 million people have lost their jobs and nearly 50 million are encountering difficulty in getting sufficient food -- are going to increase tensions between various ethnic and religious groups in this world's fourth most populous country. A Muslim leader once said that Indonesia may become Asia's Bosnia-Herzegovina if its leaders do not quickly solve the economic and political crisis hitting the country. Thosuands have doied and tens of thousands displaced by ethnic and religious violence in the former Yugoslavia. Christian organizations said that more than 500 churches have been attacked and burned down over the last three years. But Monday's attack is very likely to increase tension between Muslims and Christians. Hartono Mardjono, the deputy chairman of the Dewan Dakwah Islamiyah Indonesia, a right-wing Muslim group, also deplored the burning and blamed "certain parties" who want to pit the Muslims against the Christians. "They want to provoke the Muslims and the Christians with the intention to divide various religious groups here," Hartono said, calling on Muslims to restrain themselves and asking Muslim preachers to help cool down the heated confrontation between the two faiths. According to the Kupang-based "Kupang Pos" daily, a coalition of four Christian youth groups organized Monday's rally, which includes the Movement of Indonesian Christian Students (GMKI), the Association of the Catholic Students of Republic Indonesia (PMKRI), the Catholic Youths and the Movement of Indonesian Young Christians (GAMKI). Meanwhile, Jakarta bishop Julius Cardinal Darmaatmadja SJ and Kupang bishop Petrus Turang Pr. asked Indonesian Catholics to help rebuild the burned mosques. "I will organize fund raising to reconstruct those houses of worship," said Darmaatmadja. Governor Piet A. Tallo, whose administration also covers Kupang, also said Monday that the government will help Muslims rebuild the burned mosques, adding that he found it difficult to prevent the riots due to the large number of the protesters. ----- Aloha, He'Ping, Om, Shalom, Salaam. Em Hotep, Peace Be, Omnia Bona Bonis, All My Relations. Adieu, Adios, Aloha. Amen. Roads End Kris DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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