http://thejakartaglobe.com/home/online-groups-stoking-fears-over-communisms-return-to-indonesia/351936
January 10, 2010 Camelia Pasandaran 'The political chaos has paved the way for the communists' return,' said Suaib Didu, chairman of the Anti-Communist Alliance Online Groups Stoking Fears Over Communism's Return to Indonesia Communism, long since banned in Indonesia, seems to have found its way back into society through the social networking Web site Facebook. The government, however, has said that the development of such groups was no cause for alarm. "If it is online, they might not be serious groups," the minister of communication and information technology, Tifatul Sembiring, told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday. Several "communist" groups and pages appeared on Facebook recently, the biggest of which, calling itself the Indonesian Communist Party 2010 (PKI 2010), had more than 2,200 members as of Sunday evening. Meanwhile, there is also a group called "Komunis," which has 1,270 members, and some other groups with hundreds of supporters and members. One of PKI 2010's latest status updates said: "Limited meeting attended by some human rights activists," and the page mentioned several names of people who were said to be involved with communism in the past. Communism has been banned by the government since it peaked in growth in the 1960s. People associated with communism were widely persecuted after Suharto's New Order regime came to power in 1966. More than half a million people murdered during the anti-communist purge of 1965-66. Little has been heard since of communist developments, and there are least two regulations that continue to forbid the spread of communist ideology - the People's Consultative Assembly decree 1996 and a 1999 change in the Criminal Code related to state security. Those found to have violated these regulations face up to 12 years in prison. Masyhuri AM, head of public relations at the Ministry of Religious Affairs, admitted that he had not heard about the emergence of the online communist groups, although he said that such groups were supposed to be banned under the decree prohibiting the spread of communist ideology. "Regarding regulations, we still have [the decree] - which has not been withdrawn - that forbids communism," Masyhuri told the Jakarta Globe. "However, it is up to the police to act against such movements as it is against state ideology." Tifatul, who is from the Muslim-based Prosperous Justice Party (PKS), said that while he did not know about the development of such groups on Facebook, he would monitor the situation. "We'll look into it. If it is against the Constitution and there is a protest from more than 10 people, we could ask for them to be banned," he said. "We need to see first whether it is just preaching or has become a movement." Suaib Didu, chairman of the Anti-Communist Alliance (AAK), told the Jakarta Globe that the current chaotic political situation had opened the door for the communist groups. Regarding the communication minister's dismissal of concerns about the issue, Suaib said the groups might use this to their advantage. "They use the 'not-being-serious' method as a way to revive their ideology," he said. "However, once it finds a way back into the [political] arena, it will be hard to stop." Suaib said his organization had been monitoring the development of communist groups, including the online groups. He said such movements were previously underground, and that some might have also been "inactive" during recent political stability. "The political chaos has paved the way for their return, and the government does not take the threat seriously," he said. The government, Suaib said, now had to find those responsible for initiating the groups in order to prevent them from spreading communist doctrines. "Police, intelligence and civil society organizations have to work together to monitor its development and prevent it from growing bigger." [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
