[Pearls Before Swine]

This was the setting for “The Year of Living Dangerously,” starring Mel Gibson and Sigourney Weaver.

[paudio]

Soeharto came to power when the country was in a mess, partly because of the communists influence during the time of his predecessor, Soekarno. Unlike Polpot or Hitler, I don’t think Soeharto mastermind all the killing of the communists in 1960s, although for sure he didn’t prevent it from happening.

[John123]

Estimates for the number killed during his bloody rise to power — from 1965 to 1968 — range from a government figure of 78,000 to 1 million

And how many MORE would have died if Indonesia was under communist control? Those numbers pale with the 1/3 of the total population of Cambodia that was killed under Pol Pot's communist regime or under Stalin's iron control...

[LoneRangerMassachusetts]

Seems the article has lots of sympathy for communists. On the other hand, I see no mention of the Muslims killing several hundred thousand Roman Catholics. It just calls them East Timorese. The AP never told us that when the Muslims were killing the Catholics. And, they don’t tell us now.

[KantianBurke]

In a way, the actions against the communists in Indoneasia mirrors what went on in Chile and several other nations and the US’s reaction to it. While massacering innocent unarmed civilians is inherrently wrong, there was a Cold War going on. If the communists in these countries had been unimpeded, they probably would have ensured equal if not worse tragedies to say nothing of the end result of the Cold War.

[Enterprise]

In light of what the communists have done in other lands, Suharto made a choice - them or us. He did what he had to do. Trying to accommodate the communists would never have worked.

[arthurus]

It began with an attempted Communist coup. The Communists thought their time had come. It had, indeed come, but it was not what they imagined it would be. This was all part of the Soviet Empire's drive to conquer the world. The different battles and campaigns around the world were fought the way wars are fought in each area. Asian wars have always been wars to crush and destroy populations by ethodical extermination. African wars are simply ancient tribal wars of extermination and enslavement vastly enlarged by the redivision of still tribal Africa into States. It is only the West, and primarily the English speaking West that fights with Rules even as those rules are violated. Only the West is horrified at the nature of War in the Mass world of Asia and the Tribal world of Africa.

The nature of the Communist war led ultimately to the "dirty wars" of South America and the Indonesian iteration of the war was the same but at Asian levels of mechanical savagery. In a less than modern country the communists had to be rooted out totally or they would prevail and slaughter their own enemies and perceived enemies.

The Indonesian events of 1968 were a significant reason that the Dominoes of 1975 did not fall beyond Indochina. It does not surprise me that the CIA might have been involved. America was the principle stronghold of resistance to Communism and the one country seriously opposing the Soviets.

[Waco]

“Another 186,xxx died due to killings.” Makes sense.