In the Name of History

Kompas/Handining

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September and October have always been “history season” in Indonesia’s political cycle. In late September and early October, people commemorate the G30S incident that ended the Old Order regime and marked the emergence of the New Order.

However, the change of regime was also marked with the dissolution of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) as a political entity and crushing whomever and whatever deemed to be linked to the party. Through the killing of Army generals, the Sept. 30, 1965 attempted coup and thePKI as its alleged mastermind came as a huge blow against the Indonesian military, especially the Army, as many of its leaders were murdered and their bodies discarded disrespectfully in a hidden location. The emotional effect was that it heated the esprit de corps of the Indonesian military, which deemed the PKI as a national thorn that had also stabbed its dignity as a security force.