Indonesian Education: Communist Strategies (1950-1965) and Governmental Counter Strategies (1966-1980)

Abstract

A DECADE AND A HALF has passed since the Indonesian Communist Party was outlawed following an attempted coup d'etat in October 1965 that resulted in the killing of a reported half million Indonesians.' Although the Partai Komunis Indonesia (PKI) is officially gone, it is not forgotten. The present-day Indonesian government is constantly on the alert for signs of the revival of the PKI or for what it seemed to represent. Until 1979 there were still thousands of people in prison who had been jailed in 1966 for involvement with the PKI or with its activities. All, or nearly all, of these have been freed, mostly over the 1977-1979 period, though they are still kept under surveillance.2 Student political activities today are monitored by the government, and all government employees have recently taken part in an educational program aimed at enhancing their understanding of, and their dedication to, the present government and its philosophical foundations of the Panca Sila (Five Principles).3 New social studies materials for use in citizenship training in the schools are written under the supervision of a board of high-ranking officials, including military officers. These acts of vigilance could be interpreted as unreasonable paranoia if it were not for the history of the PKI over the past half century. On two earlier occasions-once under Dutch colonialism in 1926 and