একটা পুরনো লেখা হঠাৎ খুঁজে পেলাম। দেখে মনে হলো ব্লগে দেওয়া যেতে পারে। তবে বাংলা করে দিলে আরো ভালো হতো। দেখি, সময়-সুযোগমতো সেটা করা যায় কিনা।-অজয় দাশগুপ্ত GANASHAKTI'S Ajoy Dasgupta as a part of the Chief Ministers entourage to Singapore and Indonesia, took time off his busy schedule to find out about the banned Communist Party of Indonesia or Partai Kommunis Indonesia (PKI) as it is known in the local parlance. Fourth most populous country of the world, Indonesia has seen political upheavals since it got independence from Netherlands and sovereignty was transferred to it in November, 1949. Under the dictatorial regime of General Suharto, the PKI was banned and one million communist activists, leaders and supporters were arrested and executed. Comrade Dasgupta’s effort in finding about the Party ended up in his meeting a living revolutionary and one of the most prolific authors in the history of Indonesia’s literature. [EB, http://www.ganashakti.com ] Being a part of the entourage of the Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya, I took this opportunity to find out about the banned Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI). In a country where being a communist sympathiser or even talking about communism is considered a crime, it was quite difficult to find out about the Party. Even when I enquired about Pramoedya Ananta Toer, who is not only a well known author but also the most popular writer and columnist in Indonesia, no one was willing to come forward to say anything about him. After much trying, Indonesia based photo-journalist of an international news agency, came forward to help me. She arranged an appointment with him and also acted as an interpreter for translating Bahasa Indonesian. Pramoedya Ananta Toer, is considered as one of the most prolific authors in the history of Indonesian literature. He won international recognition through his work. His works have been translated into forty-two languages, including Malayalam. He won the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 1995 and was twice nominated for the Nobel Prize. Pramoedya was a leader of LEKRA, the cultural wing of the PKI (Communist Party of Indonesia). From 1962 to 1965, he was the editor of Lantera, a weekly cultural edition of PKI’s mouthpiece Bintang Taimur. Being close to D.N. Aidit, the then General Secretary of PKI, he too had to face the wrath of the Suharto regime. Being very popular among the common people of Indonesia, the authorities did not take the risk of executing him but he was deported to Buru Islands, notorious for torturous prison cells. His personal belongings, unpublished works and research papers were destroyed. His house was burnt and property confiscated. During his imprisonment, he was banned from writing. Finally, in 1973, after eight years of rigorous imprisonment, he was provided with a typewriter and papers. It was in this prison cell, he wrote his best work, a series of four novels chronicling the history and culture of Indonesia, known as “Buru Tetra logy”. His first work, “This Earth of Mankind”, whose first volume was actually recited orally to his fellow prisoners and the remainder, was smuggled out of the country to be published later in Bahasa Indonesian and English. His other three novels were, “Child of All Nations”, “Footsteps” and “House of Glass”. All these books were banned in Indonesia. Although his books are part of the school and college syllabus in Malaysia, in Indonesia it is still banned. He was released in 1979 and placed under house arrest in Jakarta and had to report to the military barrack in East Jakarta every month until 1992. Pramoedya, then went into a self-imposed exile to a small town Bogor, some 70 kilometers away from Jakarta. This small town is located in a quiet place away from the fast-paced metropolis that one sees in the modern times, in the era of growing consumerism and lifestyles dictated by international capitalism. His house is located in the outskirts of Bogor in a small mofussil named Bojonggede, in a serene environment and one look of it would make one feel at home, anywhere in a village in India. This 80-year old revolutionary author lives there with his wife, Maimun Tamrin and two of his daughters. Rigorous torture in the prison rendered him partially deaf and due to rheumatic arthritis, his two fingers are twisted. He suffers from mental illness and could no longer write. His last work was published 8 years ago. When I told him that I was from India, and a journalist from the CPI (M), West Bengal State Committees mouthpiece “Ganashakti”, his eyes glittered with excitement and he wanted to know about the communists in India. He said he knew about the Chief Minister’s visit from the local Indonesian newspapers. On asking about the communists in Indonesia, he said that during the Suharto regime, 20 lakh (two million) communist party workers, leaders and supporters were executed. Even now there are around 14000 communists imprisoned in the Buru Islands alone. Even after the fall of the Suharto regime, the anti-communist policies have not changed, the mentality remains the same. The first democratically elected President of Indonesia in October 1999, Abdurrahman Wahid, a theologian and religious leader of the Nahdatul Ulema continued the ban on the Communist Party. A secret organisation of this party, Bansar, systematically identified and killed communist workers. Naturally people are scared to openly carry out party activities. Since there are lot of misinformation about the claims made about the exact number of communists killed, I asked him about the validity of the number mentioned above, to that he said the figure he quoted of 20 lakhs is the official figure given by Mr. Sudomo, the Co-ordination Minister for Social Security of General Suharto and it was also substantiated by the man who allegedly carried out the execution, General Adi Bivovo. He directly blamed the US Government under Dwight D. Eisenhower, who was instrumental in engineering the coup which overthrew Dr. Sukarno’s Government. About the current regime, he said nothing has changed. Same ruling classes of Suharto regime still continue to rule Indonesia. PKI is still banned and that communists still face persecution. The only change has been that Indonesia has moved from dictatorship to democracy, but the Governments are still cronies of US imperialists. He said that Indonesia has been virtually turned into cheap labour supplier to international capitalism. Promoedya said, Communist Party sympathizers find life difficult in that they are hounded out from getting jobs as well of colleges & universities. There have recently been demonstrations demanding rehabilitation of communist families and allowed a return to homeland for who are in long exile. On asking whether he knew Rabindranath Tagore, he said with broad smile that he has read this great authors work. Pramoedya Ananta Toer was confident that communists will once again re-organise, in spite of the Governments determined effort to crush communism in this archipelago. He said, communists will once again surely rise like the phoenix and will change the destiny of Indonesians. Click This Link