It looks like the “communist panic” that recently gripped the Indonesian military and extremist groups hasn’t completely died down.
On Saturday evening, a woman identified by the initials MSP was interrogated at Soekarno-Hatta Airport for wearing a t-shirt sporting the communist hammer and sickle symbol.
MSP, a Kelapa Gading resident, was waiting at Terminal 1B to pick up her child who was flying in from Bali. Her supposed fashion faux pas apparently offended a military police officer posted at the terminal, who then took MSP to a military police station at the airport for questioning.
The woman told the authorities that she had received the t-shirt from a relative who went on holiday to Vietnam recently. It’s not clear what charges she’d face for wearing the shirt in public, but it seems like the authorities are taking the investigation seriously.
“Right now the lady is being investigated by Kasat Intelkam (Security Intelligence Unit),” said Airport Police Spokesperson AKP Endang Sutrisna on Sunday, a day after MSP was caught, as quoted by Okezone.
Due to the dark history surrounding the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), wearing and/or selling communism symbols in Indonesia is not something to be taken lightly. Authorities have arrested storeowners and activists for the offense, and even a former Puteri Indonesia had to face society’s scorn for wearing a hammer and sickle t-shirt (though obviously she didn’t get in trouble with the law, because artis).
