Priska Sari Pratiwi, Jakarta – The issue of the alleged revival of the Indonesian Communism Party (PKI) has again reared its head with President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo yet again being hit by allegations.
During a break on the distribution of land certificates in Sentul, West Java, on Tuesday March 6, Widodo said he was confused by the slander being spread. The former Jakarta governor said that he is surprised that the issue of the PKI is still being used to this day.
Yet the PKI was dissolved in 1965, while Widodo was born in 1961. Meaning he experienced the PKI era when he was less than five years old, an infant.
On the same day a discussion in Jakarta under the theme The Revival of the PKI: Reality or Propaganda, which was organised by the Indonesian Youth Caucus (KMI), ended in chaos.
The chaos began when one of the speakers announced that they would soon begin the reading out of a declaration titled Stop Exploiting the Revival of the PKI Issue.
Several people attending the discussion also protested on the grounds that the declaration was not included in the agenda on the invitations they received.
Political observer Arie Sudjito from the Gadjah Mada University (UGM) in Yogyakarta believes that the PKI revival issue is being completely fabricated. According to Sudjito, the issue has been intentionally revived in order to create unrest in society.
“This issue is indeed being intentionally blown up, yes of course because it’s a political year, there are irresponsible parties throwing this issue around”, Sudjito told CNN Indonesia on Wednesday March 7.
Sudjito said that the PKI revival issue is actually no longer relevant. Right now the more important issues that need to be addressed are poverty, corruption, social inequality and creating development.
Sudjito predicts that the issue will continue to be ‘cooked over’ until the presidential elections in 2019.
He is convinced however that the public is too intelligent to be caught up any more in the PKI revival issue. He also suggests that Jokowi does not need to respond any further to it.
“It would be better if Pak Jokowi doesn’t respond. If he reacts excessively those provoking it will in fact be happy. Yet they (the PKI) don’t exist anymore”, said Sudjito. (DAL/kid)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was Isu Kebangkitan PKI Sengaja Ditiupkan di Tahun Politik.]
