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Back to Home Page National News May 21, 2001
'Leftist' books safe as planned raids canceled
JAKARTA (JP): Members of the Anti-Communist Coalition (AAK) made
visits to a number of major bookstores here on Saturday, but the
alliance did not act on its earlier threat to raid them for leftist
titles on Sunday.
AAK visited the Jakarta branches of well-known bookstores on Saturday
to thank them for removing leftist books from their shelves in
response to the group's threats.
"We would like to express our gratitude to Gunung Agung and Gramedia
bookstores for heeding the people's demand positively by withdrawing
books regarded as leftist," AAK secretary-general Naufal Dunggio was
quoted by Koridor.com as saying.
Meanwhile, Suaib Didu, the chairman of the Islamic Youth Movement
(GPI), a part of AAK, said on Sunday that his organization did not
conduct any searches on Sunday as it had earlier warned because the
bookstores here had removed the books on communism from their shelves.
"For this, we are thankful," Suaib told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
Earlier, anticommunist groups had warned bookstore owners here that
they would conduct major searches for leftist books displayed on their
shelves on National Awakening Day, which fell on Sunday.
The groups had earlier threatened to burn any leftist titles found in
the stores.
Suaib said GPI members had been checking bookstores since May 2, 2001.
"When we found any leftist titles, we neither burned them nor
confiscated them. We bought them."
He noted that since May 2, GPI members had bought some 20 books from
Jakarta bookstores.
When asked if his members had burned the books, Suaib said his members
studied them instead.
"We need to know which books need to be republished, and which do not.
If they are republished, then we have to decide if they should be for
sale, or just for students at schools or universities. These are some
of the questions AAK needs to find out," Suaib said.
He added that regardless of the results AAK made from its research, it
would hand over the results to the National Police Headquarters and
the Attorney General's Office.
A group comprising authors, poets, journalists and activists staged a
rally at the Proclamation Monument on Sunday to protest the campaign
against the books. Participants included Franz Magnis-Suseno, Sapardi
Djoko Damono, Fikri Jufri, Sabam Siagian, Ratna Sarumpaet and Nono
Anwar Makarim.
Meanwhile, the chairman of Betawi Youth Forum, Rahmat H.S., said the
search for books on communism would continue, and he urged the
National Police to seize them.
"We are not bluffing. We will continue the search for these books,"
Rahmat told the Post. Betawi Youth Forum is also a member of the AAK
alliance.
Rahmat added that the alliance had sent a letter to National Police
chief Gen. Surojo Bimantoro advising him to order the books seized,
which he claimed were in violation of the 1966 People's Consultative
Assembly's decree on the banning of the Indonesian Communist Party
(PKI) and its ideologies.
He said the alliance had given the police seven days to take "stern
action against bookstore owners selling leftist books".
However, he said, before conducting the search, members of the
alliance would have a dialog on Saturday with people whom the alliance
considered as "leftist", such as philosopher Franz Magnis-Suseno and
political scientist Hermawan Sulistyo.
Franz's book, titled Pemikiran Karl Marx (Thoughts of Karl Marx), and
Hermawan's Palu Arit (Hammer and Sickle), were among the books earlier
burned by members of the alliance.
City police chief Insp. Gen. Sofjan Yacob said on Saturday that he had
instructed the heads of Jakarta police stations to deploy personnel
around major bookstores across the capital to prevent any security
disturbances.
"My intelligence officers also summoned two GPI members, and had a
chat with them. In short, we told them not to take any harsh action
against the general public, or do anything to provoke chaos," Sofjan
said on Saturday.
Meanwhile in Batam, Riau, bookstores are reportedly cashing in on the
sudden interest of "leftist" books.
A store keeper at Lucky Media book store said books such as Revolusi
Indonesia by Franz Magnis Suseno, Catatan Revolusi Rakyat by Che
Guevara, Kronik Revolusi Indonesia and Rumah Kaca's Pramudya Ananta
Toer were selling well.
"We're still displaying them because many people look for them,"
storekeeper Anwar said on Saturday.
He added that between two to four such books were sold each day.
Barelang Police Detective chief Adj. Comr. Bahagia Dachi said police
are on alert but doubts if anti-communist groups plan to do anything
in Batam.
"We have not found any indication of the AAK groups operating here,"
he told the Post on Saturday. (26/ylt/jun)