Demonstrators Destroyed the Office of the Indonesian Communist Party, 1965

Photo: Spaarnestad

The rivalry between the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) and the Army led to a bloody conflict that claimed many victims. The rivalry has been heating up since the seizure of the nationalized company from the Dutch in 1958. The PKI tried to control these companies through forced expropriation by the labor union organization which was the party's underbow.

The rivalry between the PKI and the Army finally dragged President Soekarno into the vortex of the conflict. Soekarno tried to embrace both parties for his political gain. Soekarno approached the PKI, the fourth largest political party, to seek mass support for his confrontational politics. At the same time the PKI also needed Soekarno to protect them from the Army.

The rivalry finally broke out in the events of the September 30th Movement which claimed the lives of 7 Army officers, 6 of whom were generals. This tragedy was used by the Army to garner political and public support to end the PKI once and for all. The PKI's attempt to eliminate the army leaders turned into a disaster for the party, less than 6 months after the incident the PKI was dissolved and declared a banned party.

Public anger was very large at the PKI after the incident, this was also inseparable from the role of the Army's mass media which monopolized and disseminated asymmetric information. Demonstrations sponsored by the Army continued to be held especially in Jakarta.

The photo above shows the PKI office which was destroyed by angry demonstrators on October 20, 1965, just three weeks after the murder incident.