Pretext for mass murder: the September 30th movement and Suharto's coup d'etat in Indonesia
Roosa, JohnUnknown
The University of Wisconsin Press (Wisconsin, 2006) (eng) English9780299220341New perspectives in Southeast asian studiesUnknownPARTAI KOMUNIS INDONESIA; UnknownOn October 1, 1965, a group of Indonesian soldiers calling themselves "the September 30th movement" kidnapped and killed several high-ranking officers, claiming that they were preventing a plot against the president. But the movement itself was swiftly defeated, and another army general, Haji Suharto, took the opportunity to accuse the Communist Party of trying to overthrow the government. Seizing power for himself, he would rule Indonesia for more than three decades. The alleged Communist plot was a key element in Suharto's national mythology, but as Roosa explains, the haphazardness of the September 30th movement's actions has always provoked questions about its real motivations. His research, including a previously ignored account of the plot's shortcomings by one of its advisers, suggests that the truth lies close to the easiest explanation. The September 30th movement was not a coup, Roosa asserts, but an attempt to purge the Indonesian government of anti-Communist influences that failed because it was "a tangled, incoherent mess." Roosa's historical reconstruction is painstakingly detailed, yet laid out in a clear narrative. While some questions remain unanswered, his scenario provides a rational explanation for much of the chaos the political upheaval engendered.
Physical dimension
xii, 329 p.23 cm.Unknown
Summary / review / table of contents
The incoherence of the facts --
Interpretations of the movement --
The Supardjo document --
Sjam and the special bureau --
Aidit and the PKI --
Suharto, the Indonesian Army, and the United States --
Assembling a new narrative --
Some factors that influenced the defeat of "The September 30th Movement" as viewed from a military perspective (1966) / by Brigadier General Supardjo --
The testimony of Sjam.