APSN | Book on NU-PKI conflict released in Yogya

Home > South-East Asia >> Indonesia

Book on NU-PKI conflict released in Yogya

Jakarta Post - April 5, 2014

Documenting Indonesian purges – Red Flag Newspaper. March 11, 2014
'The Act of Killing' just the start of 'long road' to addressing 1965 killings – Jakarta Globe. March 3, 2014
No inquiry into 1965 killings on SBY's watch – Jakarta Globe. March 3, 2014
Surabaya police bans 'communist' book talk on Tan Malaka after FPI protest - Jakarta Globe. February 8, 2014
Indonesian Diaspora regrets attack on Yogyakarta meeting - Jakarta Post. November 2, 2013

Yogyakarta – A book entitled Benturan NU-PKI 1948-1965 (The NU-PKI clash 1948-1965) has been released by the country's biggest Muslim organization the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) in its bid to clear its name in relation to the killing of Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) supporters in 1965.

"The book is not meant to be anti-PKI because the incident happened in the past and the PKI no longer exists," NU deputy chairman As'ad Said Ali said during a book discussion in Yogyakarta recently. He said there were still parties that wanted to politicize the conflict between NU and PKI in 1965.

"This [book] could be a reference point because some young NU members accused their fathers of being PKI murderers," the book's author, Abdul Mun'im DZ, said.

"Don't just focus on the 1965 conflict. We have to understand what had happened before it. The NU-PKI conflict was due to ideological differences," Abdul said.

Historian Bambang Purwanto of Gadjah Mada University said that the book could be a new reference, but, he strongly criticized it for placing the NU on a "superhero" pedestal. He also criticized the content of the book for being inconsistent.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/04/05/book-nu-pki-conflict-released-yogya.html.