Chaerul Umam, Jakarta – Political observer Boni Hargens says that the current discourse in Indonesia about the revival of communist ideas should stop and be left in the past.
Conversely, Hargens said that the real threat at the moment is from the hard-line Islamic group Hizbut Tahrir Indonesia (HTI) and the domestic terrorist group Jamaah Anshor Daulah (JAD).
“The concrete [threat of] JAD is real, they are a terrorist group. What is also real is the HTI which although it has been banned as an organisations, as a grouping of people the HTI can’t be disbanded, as an ideology it can’t be disbanded, meaning that they can still threaten our system [in] their [effort] to create an Islamic caliphate”, said Hargens at a discussion titled Differentiating the Political Agenda of Communism and the Caliphate in the 2019 Presidential Elections, at the Bumbu Desa restaurant in Cikini, Central Jakarta, on Saturday October 13.
Hargens suspects there are rogue elements which are intentionally blowing up the issue of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) and linking it with the administration of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo.
The evidence for this, he said, can be seen from looking at the 10-year administration of Widodo’s predecessor president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), during which the issue of the PKI’s revival hardly ever came up.
“Although there was some it didn’t come up all the time like today. Whey after Jokowi became president did this discourse suddenly emerge as if the PKI is a real threat”, he said in conclusion.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was Boni Hargens: Komunisme Sudah Selesai, Ancanam yang Riil Itu HTI dan JAD.]
