The ‘Gestapu’ events of 1965 in Indonesia: New evidence from Russian and German archives

• Main Author: Ragna Boden
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: BRILL 2008-12-01
• Series: Bijdragen tot de Taal-, Land- en Volkenkunde
• Online Access: http://www.kitlv-journals.nl/index.php/btlv/article/view/40

One of the unsolved riddles of Indonesian history in the twentieth century is the so-called Gestapu affair and its aftermath. For the murder of six army generals on the night of 30 September 1965 the Indonesian communists and President Soekarno were widely held responsible. Indonesian leftists – real and alleged – were persecuted; hundreds of thousands were killed. The longterm consequences affected Indonesian domestic as well as foreign policy: the changeover in government resulted in 30 years of rule by Soeharto; the Partai Komunis Indonesia (PKI, Indonesian Communist Party) and leftist organizations were banned; relations with China were severed, those with the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) were reduced; and ties with Washington and the Western world intensified.