Although the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) is long gone, eradicated in the 1965 mass killings in Indonesia that historians believe claimed around 1 million victims, the specter of communism remains a subject of paranoia amongst government institutions, with laws still in effect criminalizing not only the propagation of socialist ideology but even the display of its symbols, such as the hammer and sickle.
The latest suspects to be investigated for violating those laws are four Malaysian men who were detained by police on Saturday for selling copies of a translated edition of “The Communist Manifesto” by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels at the Indonesia International Book Fair at the Jakarta Convention Center.
The head of public relations for the Jakarta Police, Commissioner Setiyono Awi, said police acted after receiving reports from the public regarding the books, which feature the hammer and sickle symbol on the cover.
“So we did an inspection, and it is true they were selling the books, which were published in Malaysia,” Awi said on Sunday as quoted by BeritaSatu.
Awi said that the suspects, representatives of Malaysian publisher Thukul Cetak, claimed they were not aware of Indonesian sensitivities regarding the hammer and sickle. After being questioned by police, they were handed over to immigration for further processing.
Police said they would also question the organizers of the book fair today to find out if they were aware of the Communist Manifesto being sold at the event.
In the last year, police and the military have arrested or detained numerous individuals for wearing shirts or even selling toys with hammer and sickle logos. President Joko Widodo has supposedly given his blessing to the continued communist crackdown.
“The Communist Manifesto” is an important historical document that is essential reading for those studying the development of political thought and philosophy. The government’s knee-jerk reaction to anything related to communism is representative of its overall resistance to examining their own history with critical thought and open-mindedness.
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