THE INDONESIAN SITUATION (REPORT #67 - AS OF 4:00 PM EST)

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79T00472A001500040066-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 26, 2006
• Sequence Number: 66
• Publication Date: November 21, 1965
• Content Type: IM

Approved For Rise 2006L&J W9T00472AV1500040066-0
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
Office of Current Intelligence
21 November 1965
INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM
The Indonesian Situation
(Report - As of 4:00 EST)
1. President Sukarno met in closed conference
with ranking Indonesian army officers, cabinet mem-
bers, and ministers of Bogor Palace on 20 November,
following an earlier meeting attended by foreign
and domestic newsmen.
2. Although a major policy pronouncement was
expected during the open meeting, with most specu-
lation centering around a possible decision to ban
the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), none was
forthcoming. Instead, Sukarno repeated themes ex-
pressed earlier and appeared cautiously determined
to reassert himself and to keep Indonesia on essen-
tially the same course that it pursued prior to the
abortive coup of 30 September.
3. President Sukarno stated emphatically that
Indonesia retains its membership in the "anti-impe-
rialist axis" which binds together Communist China,
North Korea, North Vietnam, and Cambodia. The
initial public announcement of Indonesia's member-
ship in the axis was made during Indonesia's Inde-
pendence Day celebration on 17 August.
4. Only hours before the Bogor meeting, there
were strong indications that Sukarno would'announce
the banning of the PKI. Following a meeting with
the President, the Deputy House Speaker, Mochammad
Sachu, declared that the abolition of the Peiping.-
oriented PKI was only a matter of time because of
Approved For Release 2006/p,2,{S.7q-fQy,9T00472A001500040066-0
 Approved For Rase 2006,7,,tom&1[79T004721500040066-0
complicity in the 30 September coup attempt. Dur-
ing the morning meeting at Bogor Palace, however,
Sukarno gave no indication that he is contemplating
such action. Instead, he tediously defended the
PKI against newspaper charges of having committed
mass murders, bloodshed, and violence.
6. Now unable to control and manipulate the
press as he did prior to 30 September, Sukarno
warned Indonesian newsmen that they faced imprison-
ment if they reported falsehoods and incited the
populace. Foreign newsmen were threatened with
expulsion from the country if they deviated from
the reporting of facts. Sukarno also alluded to
some newspaper criticisms of Cambodia and North
Vietnam, and warned that newspapers offering such
criticisms of Indonesia's friends would be banned
if they persisted. Possibly forewarned that Sukarno
might impose press restrictions, "hundreds of thou-
sands" of Indonesian Moslem, Christian, and Catholic
demonstrators held a public rally in Djakarta and
demanded that no curbs be imposed on the freedom
of the press.
7. Although no detailed reports have been
made on the closed-door conference, it appears that
Sukarno, as before, appealed to his military com-
manders to remAin united behind him to insure the
successful coi.clusion of the Indonesian revolution
which, perhaps significantly, he insisted was
leftist but not Communist. Foreign Minister Subandrio,
who attended the private meeting and whose expulsion
from the government is being sought by the army,
reported that Sukarno warned of a national collapse
if a split occurred from within.
Approved For Release 2006/e LY,9T00472A001500040066-0
 Approved For Rise 2006 CzR-jEFT9T00472A 500040066-0
8. The army drive against the PKI is continu-
ing unabated, amidst daily disclosures of PKI
atrocities and of the surrender of large numbers
of PKI members and their adherents. At the same
time, there are indications that the army is en-
countering financial difficulties because of the
expenses involved in its broad operations against
the PKI and in providing its prisoners with the
necessities of life.
Approved For Release 200 {O ~p,79T00472AO01500040066-0