Dipa Nusantara Aidit
Dipa Nusantara Aidit (born July 30, 1923 in Sumatra , † November 23, 1965 in Java ) was an Indonesian politician .
From 1951 to 1965 he was party leader of the Partai Komunis Indonesia (PKI), the largest communist party outside the Soviet Union and China .
Childhood and politicization
There are different details about Aidit's place of birth and his ethnic origin. Edman (1987: 23ff.) Places Aidits's birthplace in the village of Pagarlarang, near Tanjungpandan on the island of Belitung, and describes him as the child of Malay parents. Kroef (1965: 53) suspects that Aidit was born to Arab parents and assumes that the place of birth is Medan , Northwest Sumatra. Brackman (1963: 31f., 309 footnote 6) suspects that Aidit is either Chinese or Arab.
It is more or less certain that Dipa Nusantara Aidit was born on July 30, 1923, the eldest son of a forest official. It is possible that his parents gave him the first name Ahmad. At the age of 13, his parents sent him to Jakarta to attend a business school (cf. Edman 1987: 23). Three years later, Aidit joined the 'Persatuan Timur Muda' (Eastern Youth Association), a small organization made up of students from different ethnic backgrounds. In the same year he became a member of the 'Barisan Pemuda Gerindo' (Gerindo Youth Front), a left-wing youth organization led by Amir Sjarifuddin , a later Prime Minister and communist. During this time, Aidit's interest in Marxism began. He came into contact with Muhammad Jusuf, the first chairman of the PKI in 1945, who is said to have lent him a copy of Karl Marx 'Das Kapital' (cf. Edman 1987: 23). During this time he changed his first name to 'Dipa' (after Dipanegara, national hero from the 19th century) and 'Nusantara' (name for the Indonesian archipelago).
The time before independence
In 1942 Aidit was elected vice chairman of a transport workers' union. A year later he founded the 'Gerakan Indonesia Merdeka' (Gerindom; Movement for a Liberated Indonesia), an anti-fascist underground movement, which was crushed by the Japanese police soon after it was founded. In the same year he became a member of the illegal PKI (cf. Edman 1987: 23f.).
One year before the end of the Japanese occupation, Aidit joined the 'Angkatan Muda' (Young Generation), among others. The 'Angkatan Muda' was founded in mid-1944 on a Japanese proposal. It served, as Anderson describes, “for controlling undesirable elements among the youth. (...) Young men who were known or suspected of having 'illegal' connections or who were persistently and openly hostile to the Japanese and at the same time influential among their comrades, were forced to assume leadership in the organization. "(Cf. Anderson (1961): Some Aspects of Indonesian Politics under the Japanese Occupation: 1944-1945. Interim Reports Series, Modern Indonesia Project, Cornell University. Pp. 51-52; quoted from: Mortimer 1974: 35).
In the same year Aidit was accepted into the 'Asrama Angkatan Baru Indonesia' (home of the new generation of Indonesia). The 'Asrama Angkatan Baru Indonesia' was founded by the Ministry of Propaganda of the Japanese Military Administration to train Indonesian youth politically. Classes were led by the most prominent figures in the nationalist movement, including Sukarno , Hatta and Muhammad Yamin. Aidit was also a member of the 'Barisan Pelopor' (Front of the Pioneers). This political organization was also founded by the Japanese to train its members in discipline, patriotism and techniques of mass mobilization. Selected members of the 'Barisan Pelopor', including Aidit, later formed a special unit that was responsible for the personal protection of Sukarno under the name 'Barisan Pelopor Istimewa' (Special Front of the Pioneers) (cf. Mortimer 1974: 36).
Aidit was also present at the historic meeting of the youth associations on August 16, 1945, which demanded that Sukarno and Hatta immediately proclaim Indonesian independence. Aidit was one of the four 'Pemuda' who brought this request to Sukarno's house. However, he was not involved in the subsequent kidnapping of the two politicians (cf. Brackman 1963: 41f .; Mortimer 1974: 37). Two weeks after the declaration of independence , Aidit founded the 'Angkatan Pemuda Indonesia' (API; Generation of Indonesian Youth) together with other 'Asrama' members. The aim of this organization was to coordinate and unite all organizations of the 'Pemuda'. After a large demonstration organized by the API in Gambir Park (Jakarta) on September 19, 1945, Aidit was arrested by the Japanese military administration. A little later he managed to escape from prison. But now it was the British Army that arrested him again shortly afterwards and handed him over to the advancing Dutch. They banished Aidit to Onrust Island for seven months (Onrust: Dutch for unrest, a small island in the bay off Jakarta). (see Edman 1987: 24).
Entry into the PKI and wedding
After the end of his exile, Aidit joined the PKI, which was still legal at the time. There he was elected to the central committee of the PKI in 1947 and took over the chairmanship of the party faction in the parliament of the republic (cf. Mortimer 1974: 38). During this time he met his future wife Sutanti (cf. Edman 1987: 25).
Sutanti was the daughter of an aristocratic police chief in Semarang who was killed as a member of Amir Sjarifuddin's Socialist Party during the Madiun affair in 1948. Sutanti's mother was active in the 'Gerakan Wanita Indonesia' (Gerwani; movement of the Indonesian women), a women's organization of the PKI, in which she was later elected vice-president (see Edman 1987: 25). No information is available about the exact time of the wedding and the number of possible children.
Rise within the PKI and exile
Under the chairmanship of Musso, a new Politburo was elected to the newly constituted PKI on September 1, 1948, into which DN Aidit was also accepted for the first time (cf. Mc T. Kahin 1959: 276; Mortimer 1974: 38).
The Madiun affair happened only a few weeks later. Aidit managed to leave Indonesia unnoticed. His escape took him via Singapore to North Vietnam, where he is said to have supported Ho Chi Minh in his struggle for independence (cf. Hindley 1964: 23). Aidit then traveled to China, where Mao Zedong proclaimed the Chinese People's Republic on October 1, 1949. One month earlier, on September 7, 1949, the Republican government in Indonesia decided on an amnesty for all persons who were involved in the Madiun affair (cf. Brackman 1963: 124). The communists only slowly began to regroup in Indonesia.
Return and jump to the top of the PKI
In mid-1950, DN Aidit returned to Indonesia and initially worked for the agitation and propaganda secretariat of the PKI's Politburo. He first published the magazine 'Bintang Merah' (Red Star). According to their own information, their circulation number increased from 3,000 in August 1950 to 10,000 towards the end of the same year. The 'Bintang Merah' claimed to promote the development of criticism and self-criticism within the party, "to ouster those leaders who clearly 'did not fulfill conditions'" (cf. Hindley 1964: 24). This is how the young forces in the PKI, headed by Aidit, succeeded in disempowering their opponents in the party.
As a result of their efforts, a new Politburo was elected on January 7, 1951, chaired by Dipa Nusantara Aidit (cf. Hindley 1964: 25). At the plenary session of the Central Committee in October 1953 and at the 5th PKI Party Congress in March 1954, Aidit succeeded in consolidating his position in the party (cf. Mortimer 1974: 42ff.). Its successful work made the PKI the fourth largest group in the Indonesian parliament in the parliamentary elections in September 1955. After the end of the parliamentary system in 1957, the PKI rose to become the most important mass organization in Indonesia due to its extra-parliamentary strength and its close ties to President Sukarno.
Disempowerment and death
However, Aidit's success did not last. As a result of the as yet unexplained events on September 30, 1965 , General Suharto initiated a mass pogrom against communists in which more than 500,000 people (other estimates assume even higher numbers) were murdered. DN Aidit was shot dead by the Indonesian army on November 23, 1965 immediately after his arrest (cf. Schlereth / Bintang 1970: 178f.).
literature
- Brackman, AC: Indonesian Communism. A history. Frederick A. Praeger. New York. 1963
- Edman, Peter: Communism a la Aidit. The Indonesian Communist Party under DN Aidit, 1950-1965. Center for Southeast Asian Studies. Monograph Series. No. 23. James Cook University of North Queensland. 1987
- Hindley, Donald: The Communist Party of Indonesia 1951–1963. University of California Press. Berkeley and Los Angeles. 1964
- Kroef, Justus M. van der: The Communist Party of Indonesia. Its History, Program and Tactics. Vancouver. 1965
- Mc T. Kahin, George: Nationalism and Revolution in Indonesia. Cornell University Press. Ithaca. 4th edition 1959
- Mortimer, Rex: Indonesian Communism under Sukarno. Ideology and Politics, 1959-1965. Cornell University Press. Ithaca. 1974
- Schlereth, Einar; BD Bintang: Indonesia: Analysis of a Massacre. March publishing house. Frankfurt. 1970
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Aidit, Dipa Nusantara |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Indonesian politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | July 30, 1923 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Sumatra |
| DATE OF DEATH | November 23, 1965 |
| Place of death | Java |