Student Analysis
18
Sukarno's Island Torn by Inflation, War
By Irvana Keagy
By Treana Reilly
(Since the Oct. 1 attempt to overthrow Indonesia's President Sukarno, until the present anti-Communist demonstrations, the band of islands comprising the Republic of Indonesia has been a mystery in many minds. The following is a summary and analysis of the situation since the Oct. 1 coup.)
REPORTS BEGAN FILTERING over the Malaysian government radio Oct. 1 announcing that loyal Sukarno army units had been instrumental in smashing a coup led by Lt. Col. Untung, a battalion commander in Sukarno's body guard. The next day, Djakarta radio said martial law had been declared and the capital was in a "state of war."
Later reports indicated that the Indonesian Communist party, the largest movement outside the Soviet Union or Red China, instigated the coup. Whether accurate or not, the Indonesian citizens and army officials were ready to believe the reports. About 10-12 days after the first uprising, Djakarta radio reported that Lt. Col Untung had been captured, and thousands of Communists were fleeing to the hills to escape the army's dragnet.
The anti-Communist feelings have been so intense that demonstrators have burned and destroyed much of the Communist property on the islands.
RECENT REPORTS, although not confirmed, hint that Sukarno may have collaborated with the Communists in the Oct. 1 revolt. At least two "coincidences" bear this out: the leader of the coup was one of Sukarno's top officials, and the Indonesian Communist party's chief, D. N. Aidit, fled to Red China by a "convenient" submarine.
Although Indonesia is being smothered in an economic and political quicksand, it still exists. One reason for the country's existence is the clever manipulation of Sukarno.
Sukarno came to power in 1949 after helping Indonesia gain independence from the Dutch government. He named himself president and began a nationalist dictator's rule, uniting the band of islands into one republic.
Sukarno has built one of the largest armies in the world, with only Red China's and the Soviet Union's armies ranking higher. He has also ruled a country containing an estimated three million Communist party members.
ALTHOUGH SUKARNO ADvocates Socialism and leans toward a Peking policy, he denies he is a communist.
Professor Does Literary Study
Gerhard Zuther, assistant professor of the English department, last year travelled in Europe and did research in Germany, compiling a bibliography of American literature which had been published in Germany since World War II.
Concerned both with literature translated into German as well as left in the original English, he tried to discover the acceptance of our literature over there, and included articles, reviews and books. For this he had to look through all the listings in periodicals from 1945 to the present.
Zuther, who was granted sabbatical leave from KU to do this research, worked chiefly at the Deutsche Bibliothek in Frankfurt and at university laboratories. He visited Bonn, Hamburg, Kiel, Göttingen, Muenster, Berlin and Freiburg in the course of his studies.
He also attended several conferences: in September, 1964, a five-day conference of the International Comparative Literature Association in Fribourg, Switzerland, and in June, 1965, the Annual Conference of the German Society of American Studies.
Edwin O. Stene, a professor in the political science department who spent the summer of 1962 setting up a training program for public administration in Indonesia, said there were many members of the Communist party when he was there, but there was not much outward sympathy toward the theology.
"AS I SEE IT, in reference to places and groups, it is apparent that the Communists were behind the recent coup," Stene said. "But I don't think the majority are
He said many businessmen were active in the party only to protect their capitalistic interests from harassment by the Communists. Stene said from this, the Communist party may have thought it was strong enough to successfully take over Sukarno's regime.
sympathetic with the Communists and some (the peasants) don't even care."
He said that the strong Communist influence is centered in the country's air corps and navy, because these military divisions are using Soviet-made equipment and are Russian-trained. However, the army, which constitutes Sukarno's hard-core support, tends to be radically anti-Communist.
Reports indicate that inflation in Indonesia is now serious.
FRANK KING, associate professor of economics who spent the summer of 1964 in Malaysia on a KU fellowship, said Indonesia will not likely collapse from economic instability.
Thursday, October 14, 1965
Daily Kansan 7
He said that although the country's economy is undergoing serious inflation, "as long as the goods are there, the economy is there."
King said that the natural resources are sufficient, but the Sukarno government has not exploited them to their fullest value.
Breakthrough In History
The discovery of America by Columbus was a great event in history. The influx of wealth that came with the opening of the New World changed Western Civilization. Because no one has understood the effects of an influx of wealth on a social economy, and, because no one has realized that we are under the influence of an event, it might be that we are actually deep within a "dark age," and the American people are living under a "spell." If this seems ridiculous, then read the Event Concept of History in Social Survival. Most fantastic story ever told. Most eye-opening book ever written. By greatest philosopher who ever lived.
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