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1951 mass arrests in Indonesia

Parliamentarian Sarwono being arrested in Indonesian parliament, 16 August 1951
Date	August 6–28, 1951 (1951-08-06 – 1951-08-28)
Location	throughout Java and Sumatra
Also known as	August Raid
Type	Mass arrest, Preventive detention
Motive	political repression
Target	Communist Party of Indonesia leaders and members, trade unionists, leftists, other politicians
Perpetrator	Government of Indonesia, Soekiman Cabinet, Indonesian National Armed Forces
Arrests	approximately 15,000

Mass arrests, primarily of communists and leftists, were carried out in Java and Sumatra in August 1951. Sometimes called the August Raid, this was a move by the Indonesian government, led by the Soekiman Cabinet, to prevent a rumoured coup by the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) and its allies. The total number of detainees started with several hundred in early August and ended up as roughly 15,000 across Indonesia by the end of the month. Most were released without charge within months.

Background

The coalition in power at the time of the mass arrests was the short-lived Soekiman Cabinet, which was mainly supported mainly by the Indonesian National Party and the Masyumi Party. It was faced by strikes and instability in the summer of 1951, as well as tensions over the negotiations of the Treaty of San Francisco which would .

Although the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) was legal in Indonesia, it was not on good terms with the government. Strikes in the summer led to tensions between the PKI and affiliated unions, and the government. In one incident at the port of Tanjung Priok in Jakarta on 5 August, 150 armed men with communist insignias raided a police station and exchanged gunfire with Indonesian security services. Six people died, including three police officers, and a number of others were wounded. There were also rumours of secret planning for a coup between members of the Communist Party and representatives from the People's Republic of China. The incident in Tanjung Priok, and its possible connection to incidents in other cities such as a bombing in Bogor, led the government to widen its investigations. The 1948 Madiun Affair, a conflict between the government and the Communist Party was also still in recent memory and was invoked as a reason for the aggressive crackdown.

Arrests

The first round of arrest seems to have been of people involved in the Tanjung Priok shootout; the district was closed off to the public and roughly fifty were arrested in the days following the incident. By 10 August, rumours were circulating of much wider arrests of communists, although it wasn't expected that the PKI would be banned.

Sumatra

On 11 August, the government enacted a curfew in Medan, North Sumatra under the pretext of military exercises, and started arresting hundreds of Communists and "troublemakers" in and around the city. The final tally was roughly 500 detainees, including leading Sumatran communists Abdoe'lxarim MS and Jusuf Ajitorop. S.M. Tari, editor of the paper Rakjat was also arrested. The detainees were all kept in a camp near Medan. The majority of names of detainees were kept secret, however, and targeted arrests continued to take place in the Medan area and throughout Sumatra; the practice of closing towns while mass arrests took place was repeated elsewhere.

Jakarta

The most high-profile arrests took place in Jakarta on 16 August, the day before Indonesian Independence Day, with more on the 17th. Military police carried out preventive detention of roughly 100 communists and leftists, including sixteen members of the Provisional House of Representatives. Premier Soekiman Wirjosandjojo, who had authorized the arrests, gave a brief statement in the House on the 16th, promising more arrests but refusing to go into detail for operational reasons. Information Minister Arnold Mononutu also kept the charges secret and alleged the a foreign power was preparing a coup in cooperation with local Communists.

Among the arrested parliamentarians were Mudigdo, Tjudito, and Djokosoedjono of the PKI, Mustafa of the worker's bloc, Pandu, Syono and Maruto of the Murba Party, Sarwono S. Sutardjo of the Partai Kedaulatan Rakjat, Sidik Kertopari of the Peasants Front of Indonesia (BTI), and independent member Siauw Giok Tjhan. PKI leaders Alimin and D. N. Aidit initially managed to escape arrest, but further raids detained Aidit, Peris Pardede, Tan Ling Djie, Karsono Werdojo, and Sakirman. Rustam Effendi, an Indonesian-born Dutch communist who had represented the Communist Party of the Netherlands in the House of Representatives of the Netherlands from 1933 to 1946, was also in Jakarta and was arrested. Senior officials from the Ministry of Labour were also detained: Hadiomo Kusumoutojo, Abdul Rachman and Suprapto. Many of the Jakarta-area detainees were kept in the Cipinang Penitentiary Institution.

Journalists were also arrested. Five editors from Sin Po were brought in: A. Karim, Tjia Tjo Soen, Lieng Jing Chen, Lee Swie Kee and Oen Tek Hian, as well as the director Ang Jan Goan. The arrested parliamentarian Siauw Giok Tjhan was also editor of Harian Rakjat; the editor Kasan of Indonesia Raya and Lie Kit of the Chinese magazine Cheng Lim were also rounded up. Also arrested was the freelance journalist and former chairman of the Persatuan Tionghoa Indonesia Liem Koen Hian, as was the chairman of the Journalist's union (Indonesian: Serikat Buruh Pertjetakan Indonesia) Suhardjo. Military police also raided the offices of the Central All-Indonesian Workers Organization (SOBSI, a communist-affiliated union) and of the PKI, a well as the private homes of some PKI members.

East Java

Another several hundred were arrested in East Java on 18 and 19 August; initial accounts counted 35 in Surabaya, 40 in Bojonegoro, 50 in Madiun, 20 in Kediri and 15 in Malang. News reports debated whether Dutch and Chinese citizens had also been arrested, as well as a smaller number of non-leftist Indonesians. Many journalists were rounded up in the East Java raids, including Go Tjing Hok, editor of the Java Post, Goe Po An, editor of Trompet Masjarakat, and others. Among the political figures who were rounded up in Surabaya were Oloan Hutapea, chairman of the regional PKI and editor of Bintang Merah, Roeslan Kamaloedin, general secretary of the Surabaya PKI, and many other local members; Soebardi, Soetomi, and a number of SOBSI leaders; and Soepardi and Cholil of the Rukun Kampung Kota Surabaya (RKKS, Surabaya City district association, a communist-affiliated neighborhood association). Heads of local Chinese organizations were also arrested, including Djie Tjhiang Than of the Red China-Indonesia Friendship Association and a number of headmasters of Chinese schools.

West Java

100 or so people were arrested in Cirebon, West Java on 17 August, though none of the figures were high-profile political ones. The military police portrayed the detainees as a mix of criminal gangs, Darul Islam rebellion supporters, members of the paramilitary Barisan Sakit Hati and communists.

Another 50 were arrested in Bandung, West Java. Another 100 were arrested in West Java on 28 August, bringing the total to around 2000. This time non-leftists were also arrested, including Muhammad Isa Anshary and members of the Masyumi Party.

Central Java

Raids in Central Java province started on 19 August. The PKI office in Bojong in Semarang was raided and the police spent a full day going through its archive; most of the local trade unions were raided the next day. The raids, prominent union leaders were arrested, including not only SOBSI, but the Oil workers and Cigarette factory worker unions, local PKI leaders, left-wing city councilors, and leaders of the Murba Party, Partai Rakjat Indonesia and others were detained. Chinese organizations and schools were also raided, but arrests were not made.

The government later estimated the total number of arrests as being around 15,000.

Reaction and release

Parliamentarians were very unhappy about the detention of their members and protested as early as 16 August, when Deputy Speaker Albert Mangaratua Tambunan sent a delegation to the Prime Minister to demand an explanation. Even right-wing members who otherwise supported the crackdown objected to the House being cordoned off and members dragged out in the middle of a session. The indefinite detention of 16 or so members also meant that the House may not be able to achieve quorum (110 members) and carry on its business. The PKI and SOBSI also complained that their offices had been searched and called the mass arrest of their parliamentarians an open violation of democratic and human rights. The arrests were widely covered in the local and international press, not only via wire services and in the New York Times, but in the communist press, including the Daily Worker and De Waarheid. The reaction generally fell along ideological lines, with leftist papers being outraged and right-wing papers supporting the measures.

The mass arrests in August surprised the Communist Party and its affiliated organizations and seemingly neutered their ability to react. The repression also led to some trade unions to distance themselves from the Communist Party, although the majority remained affiliated.

Many of the arrestees soon started to be released due to a lack of evidence against them. The Soekiman government faced criticism for these arbitrary arrests, even in right wing circles due to the arrest of respected members of Masyumi. In a speech in the House in early November Soekiman justified himself once again, claiming that he had prevent assassination plots against Sukarno and Mohammed Hatta, and a coup against the Indonesian Republic. Following the speech, the left-wing parties tried to pass a censure motion against him, but were voted down.

References

1. "REGIME IN INDONESIA FACING DIFFICULTIES". New York Times. New York, N.Y. 13 June 1951. p. 7.
2. ^ "INDONESIA ARRESTS 100 RED SUSPECTS: RED REPRESENTATIVES WHO WILL DISCUSS BUFFER ZONE". New York Times. New York, N.Y. 17 Aug 1951. p. 1.
3. ^ "500 SEIZED IN INDONESIA: Soldiers and Policemen Arrest Troublemakers in Sumatra". New York Times. New York, N.Y. 15 August 1951. p. 4.
4. ^ "Tandjong Priok geïsoleerd Leger en politie voeren zuiverings-actie uit". Nieuwe courant (in Dutch). Surabaya. 7 August 1951.
5. ^ "REDS IN INDONESIA QUIET ON ARRESTS: Expected Reactions to Roundup Fail to Develop Left, Groups Shift to Right Hundreds Released Fail to Understand Tactics". New York Times. New York, N.Y. 15 Oct 1951. p. 3.
6. "Aanval op Priok met rode vlag ONDERLING VERBAND ?". Het nieuwsblad voor Sumatra (in Dutch). Medan. 7 August 1951.
7. ^ "Herhaling van Madiun-opstand door arrestaties voorkomen? Regering spreekt van complot om ministers te ontvoeren Cordon om het parlement". De vrije pers: ochtendbulletin (in Dutch). Surabaya. 18 August 1951.
8. "De Regering en de communisten „Merdeka": Vreemde invloed achter beweging tot stichten van wanorde Binnenkort arrestaties op grote schaal verwacht". Nieuwe courant (in Dutch). Surabaya. 10 August 1951.
9. "Alle verbindingen tijdens actie stilgelegd". Java-bode: nieuws, handels- en advertentieblad voor Nederlandsch-Indie (in Dutch). Jakarta. 13 August 1951.
10. "Grote razzia's ter Oostkust Honderden arrestaties alleen in Medan". Het nieuwsblad voor Sumatra (in Dutch). Medan. 13 August 1951.
11. ^ "500 Arrestaties in O.-Sumatra". Het nieuwsblad voor Sumatra (in Dutch). Medan. 14 August 1951.
12. "De arrestaties in Oost-Sumatra". Java-bode: nieuws, handels- en advertentieblad voor Nederlandsch-Indie (in Dutch). Jakarta. 16 August 1951. p. 1.
13. "Nog dagelijks nieuwe arrestaties en huiszoekingen in Medan". De nieuwsgier (in Dutch). Jakarta. 16 August 1951.
14. ^ "Regering grijpt in Belangrijke arrestaties in de hoofdstad". De vrije pers: ochtendbulletin (in Dutch). Surabaya. 16 August 1951. p. 1.
15. "Arrestaties te Djakarta". Het nieuwsblad voor Sumatra (in Dutch). Medan. 16 August 1951.
16. ^ Durdin, Tillman (18 August 1951). "INDONESIAN LEADER SEES REDS SET BACK: Sukiman Says Arrests Have Crippled Leftists--Is Sure Japan Pact Will Be Backed Communism Not Popular". New York Times. New York, N.Y. p. 5. Cite error: The named reference "NYT6" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
17. ^ "Sukiman motiveert arrestaties in besloten parlementszitting". Het nieuwsblad voor Sumatra (in Dutch). Medan. 18 August 1951. p. 2.
18. ^ "De arrestaties in Oost-Java Politie vond bij een arrestant 35 kilogram goud Aangehoudenen reeds naar elders overgebracht". De vrije pers: ochtendbulletin (in Dutch). Surabaya. 20 August 1951.
19. ^ "De arrestaties in Oost-Java". Nieuwe courant (in Dutch). Surabaya. 20 August 1951.
20. "Arrestaties in Oost-Java uitgevoerd Verschillende journalisten door politie aangehouden". De vrije pers : ochtendbulletin (in Dutch). 18 August 1951. p. 2. {{cite news}}: More than one of |pages= and |page= specified (help)
21. ^ "Onveiligheid in het Cheribonse Evacuatie van politieke figuren uit Indramajoe". Nieuwe courant (in Dutch). Surabaya. 22 August 1951.
22. ^ "INDONESIA ARRESTS RISE: 100 More Seized in West Java-- Total Is Near 2,000". New York Times. New York, N.Y. 27 August 1951. p. 4.
23. ^ "Massa-arrestaties in Semarang". Nieuwe courant (in Dutch). Surabaya. 22 August 1951.
24. ^ "INDONESIA RELEASES 35 HELD IN RED PLOT". New York Times. New York, N.Y. 5 November 1951. p. 2.
25. "Arrestaties brengen quorum in gevaar". Nieuwe courant (in Dutch). Surabaya. 20 August 1951.
26. Durban, Tillman (20 October 1951). "INDONESIAN LABOR LOOSENS RED GRIP: Communists Still Dominating Unions but New Defections Reduce Party's Margin Non-Reds Control Others Causing Stoppages". New York Times. New York, N.Y. p. 2.
27. Durdan, Tillman (14 Octtober 1951). "INDONESIA FACING COMPLEX PROBLEMS: INDONESIAN LEADERS". New York, N.Y. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)