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THE DECLINE OF CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY IN I]I,T])ONESIA
HERBERT FEITH
THE DECLINE OF
CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOC...
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THE DECLINE OF CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY IN I]I,T])ONESIA
HERBERT FEITH
THE DECLINE OF
CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY IN
INDONESIA
EQ11INOX PUBLISHING JAIl A "'TA KUA LA LU M PUR
EqUINOX PuBUSHING (AsIA) PTE LTD
No 3. Shenton Way #10-05 Shenton House Singapore 068805 www.EquinoxPublishing.com
1be Decline of Constitutional Democracy in Indonesia by Herbert Feith
First Equinox Edition 2007 Copyright ~ 1962, 2007 by Cornell University Press. Originally published in 1962 by Cornell Universi[)' Press under ISBN 0-80-140126-7. This re:prim roition is 2uthorized by the: origin21 publishe:r.
Primed in Indonesia on 100% postconsumer waste recycled paper. No trees were destroyed to produce this book.
13579108642 Ubrary ofCongRSS Cataloging-in-Publication Data Feilh, Herberl. The decline of coostirutional democracy in Indonesia I Herbert Feith. In Equinox ed. Jabna : Equinox Pub., 2007. xx, 618 p. : maps; 23 em.
ISBN 9793780452 Includes bibliographical references and index. I. Indonesia-Politics and governmcm-1950-1966. 2007306457
All righu reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced., stored in a rcnieva.\ system, or transmined in any fonn or by any means, electronic, mechanical, phOiocopying, ret:Qrding or otherwise without the prior permission
ForD. who saw it an from the kampongs of Djakarta and suffered
FOREWORD
DURING the past decade the study of the governments and politics of Southeast Asia has advanced significantly. Today. more and more of those who carry out these studies base them on extensive periods of rigorous research in the Geld, for which they are well equipped with respect to both knowledge of the area and its language and grounding in the discipline of political science. Because of the general paucity of relevant documentation-a problem which has in recent years be· come more acute consequent upon the increasing enfettennent of the press in most of the countries of Southeast Asia-such studies can be successful only when they can draw extensively upon interviews and infannal discussions. The value of these sources is, of course, very much dependent upon the scholar's being Suent in the indigenous language, sensitive enough to local cultural values and attitudes to gain rapport with the people to whom he talks, and knowledgeable enough of the country's history and current situation to be able to ask the rea11y significant questions. Such requirements may seem obvious, but it has been only in very recent years that they have been met by any respectable proportion of those foreign scholars doing research and writing on Southeast Asia. This book is one of the first to be written by this new generation of scholars; I believe it does honor to this group and augurs well for the quality of the work of its several members who are now completing their research and whose findings should be published during the next few years. This is the first major study of the postrevolutionary political development of what is now the world's fifth most populous country. It
..
viii
Foreword
describes and analyzes Indonesian government and politics from the Netherlands' acknowledgment of Indonesia's independence, at the end of 1949, until the overshadowment of parliamentary democracy by Guided Democracy, cornmenciog in 1957. This has been a crucial and formative period. Not only is it intrinsically of importance; but clearly a knowledge of it is essential for an understanding of the present system of Guided Democracy. Whether or not in modern Indonesia there exist the relevant cultural, social, and economic environment and the political circumstances appropriate for the effective functioning of constitutional democracy has for several years been a central question in the minds of those having a serious interest in the country's political development. And of course an essential complement to this question is an inquiry into the nature of the political processes and institutions incorporated into the rather special system of constitutional democracy attempted in Indon"esia. In the course of his comprehensive account of Indonesia's modern political development, Dr. Feith gives major attention to these questions, his account constituting by far the fullest explanation yet to have appeared as to why the variants of constitutional democracy attempted in Indonesia did not function effectively and how it was that the way was opened for the introduction of Guided Democracy. In accomplishing this, he has described the relevant historical background and the social and economic factors which have most decisively influenced the country's political course. The running analysis which accompanies his account should be particularly welcome to those who have tried to understand the kaleidoscopic complexity of Indonesian politics. . In the ~urse of four years of work in Indonesia, Herbert Feith gathered an impressive body of new data, which in itself constitutes an important contribution. The richness of his findings attests to his full 80ency in the Indonesian language, his sensitive understanding of Indonesian culture, and the friendship and respect with whieh he has been regarded by Indonesian~ualities which made it possible for him to talk candidly to so many of them, a source of understanding without which this book could not have been written. Those who know Herbert Feith will be aware that his interest in Indonesia is not merely academic and that he has a profound personal affection for the country and its people. It might therefore be appropriate to mention that I believe his study constitutes a good example of the maxim that a
Foreward
ix
scholar best serves such friendship through frankness of exposition and objectivity of appraisal. The analysis which Dr. Feith has made of his materials evidences. I believe, a perceptiveness sharpened by substantial training in the social sciences and much serious thought as to the appropriateness of existing methodological approaches. He has endeavored to confront his data with a fresh eye, undertaking to shape his methodology to conform as much as possible to Indonesian realities ,and attempting to avoid the limitations of those aspects of the conceptual apparatus of political science which do not really fit-an approach shared by an encOuraging Dumber of other members of this new generation. In the cow:se of his analysis he has developed several concepts whose applicability, I believe, transcends the Indonesian scene and should prove generally useful in analyzing political processes in other newly independent states of Asia and Africa. GEORGE MeT. K.unN
Ithaca, New Yark August 2, 1¢2
PREFACE
THIS is a book about Indonesian politics between December 1949 and March 1957. It begins as revolutionary warfare ends and the Netherlands government withdraws from its fonner colony. It ends as "guided democracy" is being ushered in, Was this, then, a period of constitutional democracy? I have argued that it was, in a particular sense. The system of politics which operated in those years and finally broke down had six distinct features characteristic of constitutional democracy. Civilians played a dominant role. Parties were of very great importance. The contenders for power showed respect for "rules of the game" which were closely related to the existing constitutioD. Most members of the political elite had some sort of commitment to symbols connected with constitutional democracy. Civil liberties were rarely infringed. Finally, governments used coercion sparingly. This represented, at the very least, an attempt to maintain and develop constitutional democracy. The attempt was abandoned after 1957, and the political system was then transformed in far-reaching ways affecting each of the six features. My aim here has been to tell the story of this attempt, presenting it in the setting of the month-to.mon~ development of national politics. I have related it to the work of the seven cabinets of the period, their cHorts to solve governmental problems and to maintain their own power and that of their regime. My concern has been particularly with the failure of the attempt, with why it was defeated and abandoned. I have brought the story to an end on March 14, 1957, the day on which the second cabinet of Ali Sastroamidjojo resigned and martial
"
xii
Preface
law was proclaimed for the whole country. This was in a sense merely a halfway point in a process of political transfonnation which lasted from mid-19s6 to mid-19sB. There were to be two other major developments-the take-overs of Dutch enterprises in Derember 1957 and the regionalist rebellion beginning two months later-before the process was completed, before what may be called "guided democracy" came linto operation. But the failure of constitutional democracy can be explained in terms of what had unfolded by March 1957. Thus it is only in an epilogue that I have discussed the take-overs of Dutch enterprises 'and the Sumatra-Sulawesi rebellion. It is also only there, and sketchily, that I have described "guided democracy" as a political system. In many ways this is a premature study. It rests ' on virtually DO historical perspective. That I have been bold enough to attempt it is a result in part of the encouragement of Professor George MeT. Kahin of Cornell University and in part of the availability at Cornell of a rich store of primary source and monographic material on contemporary Indonesian society and politics. It also rdlects my conviction that overseas studies of Indonesian problems should be accessible to Indonesians grappling procticaUy with these problems. Nothing would please me more than to have this book interest Indonesians active in government or politics. The book' contains a host of judgments made on inadequate evidence. If I have not always admitted this in the body of the text, not emphasized again and again that my deductions from data are tentative and that the particular subject is one where further research is required, the reasons are aesthetic rather than scholarly. It goes without saying that this is only a preliminary cHort at comprehension, preliminary in its tracing of the course of events, and preliminary in the conceptual tools applied to these events. I have attempted to present the story in a way that will make it useful for those who cannot accept the theoretical framework in which I have set it. For the rest I am relying on my critics to set the record _straight. The Significance of studies of this kind lies largely, after all, in the criticisms they call forth. The book grew out of a doctoral dissertation presented to CorneU University's Department of Government in IgGo. It also grew out of four years of work in Indonesia (June 1951-July 1953 and July 1954August 1956 ) and two short visits made since (May to August 1957 and August to December IgBl ). Finally. it grew out of study I have
Preface been able to do as a Research Fellow of the Australian National University since October 1960. The number of people to whom I am indebted for the opportunities, the trust, the encouragement. the co-operation. the intellectual stimulation, and the friendship which made my book possible is immense. My debt is particularly great to Professor Kahin, who contributed with profound generosity in all these ways. It was he who made it possible for me to study at Cornell University. who suggested this subject for my dissertation, and who as chairman of my Special Committee read each chapter carefully and critically as it was completed, offering numerous suggestions. 1t is he who established and has directed the Cornell Modem Indonesia Project, which has done so much to stimulate serious study of contemporary Indonesia and bring about cooperative effort by those engaged in such study. A great deal of whatever merit this book may have is a direct result of contact with Professor Kahin and the group of those who have been brought together by him and the Cornell Modern Indonesia Project. My special thanks go to three other Cornell professors, to John M. Echols and C. William Skinner, who served as members of my Special Committee and as counselors and friends. and to Mrs. Claire Holt, who was always kind and ready with new ideas. Among those who were my fellow graduate students a very large number contributed to the discussion from which this book was born. Here I would like to express gratitude particularly to Hilman Adil. Benedict R. O'C. Anderson, Harsja W. Bachtiar, Ruth Bosma-McVey, I. N. DjajadiniDgrat, Tapi Omas lhromi-Simatupang, J. E, Ismael, Kumianingrat, Daniel S. Lev, Gerald S, Maryanov, David P. Mozingo, Mochtar Nairn, Dellar Noer, Giok-Po Dey, Andrea Wilcox Palmer, David H. Penny, Donald H. Pond, Selosoemardjan, John R. W. Smail, Soelaeman Soemardi, Mary F. Somers, Rachmat Subur, John O. Sutter, Giok-Lan Tan, Iskandar' Tedjasukmana, and Malcolm R , Willison. Elsewhere ·in the United States and in Australia a number of people with specialist knowledge of Indonesian affairs have helped me greatly by their careful critical comments on some or all of the book in ODe or another draft. In this connection I would like to thank Professors Harry J. Benda, Clifford Geertz, Bruce Glassburner, Hans O. Schmitt, and Justus M. van der Kroef, as well as Messrs. Boyd R. Compton, Donald Hindley, M. A. Jaspan, J. A. C. Mackie, Alexander Shakow, and Kenneth D. Thomas.
xiv
Preface
Professor W. Macmahon Ball, head of the Deparbnent of Political Science at the University of Melbourne, deserves my lasting gratitude for first arousing my interest in Indonesia. I am indebted to Professor J. \Y. Davidson, of the Department of Pacilic History at the Australian National University, for all the help that a kind and thoughtful head of department can give. . For the financial support that made it possible for me to prepare and write this book my gratitude goes to the University of Melbourne's Deparbnent of Political Science, which venturesomely paid return fares for my initial trip to Indonesia and then employed me as a Research Fellow between August 1953 and April 1954. It goes also to the Cornell Modern Indonesia Project, which provided me with fellowship funds ,dUring the academic year 1956-1957 (in Australia and Indonesia ) and the academic year 1957-19sB (at Cornell) , to the Rockefeller Foundation, which awarded me a fellowship for the two following academic years, and to my present employer, the Australian National University. The book is, however, based primarily on what I learned in Indonesia. Here the scope of my indebtedness is even greater. It is impossible to list the large number of people whose &icndship and help were involved in the learning process through which I went while in Indonesia, But I can and must say that I was able to collect materials for this study only as a result of the unfailing generosity and helpfulness of my superiors and colleagues at the Ministry of Infonnation and their active support of the research I was doing alongside my office duties. It was those who at various times served as heads of the Infonnation Ministry, notably Roeslan Abdulgani, R. M. Harjoto Judoatmodjo, Su.J...ito Kusumowidagdo, Sumamo, the late Soetomo Djauhar Ari..6n, JusufJAbdullah Puar, R. M. Darjanto, and Mr. Tedjo Soemarto, who made lit possible for me to travel widely throughout Indonesia and to live in diHerent parts of the archipelago. Such access as I obtained to politkallcaders was in large part a consequence of the trust which these men placed in me. At the same lime, my colleagues, fellow employees of the Ministry, showered kindness upon me and led me into the 'world of the Indonesian political public. In· addition, I would like to thank all the many others in Indonesia who helped me to obtain information, sift it, and by it come closer to understanding. In particular I am grateful to the authorities of the . Ministries of the Interior, Education, and Religious Affairs and to the heads and staff of the Central Electoral Committee. And I would like
Preface
xv
here to express gratitude also to the administrative officers and staff of the University of Indonesia and of the Institutes of Social Research and Economic and Social Research of the University's Faculties of Law and Economics. Let me finally thank The Free Press for permission to quote from The Religion of Java by Clifford Gecrtz, the American Anthropologist for pennission to quote from "Ritual and Social Change: A Javanese Example" by Clifford Coortz (LIX [1957], 32-54), and the Comell Modem Indonesia Project for permission to quote from Past and Future by Mohammad Hatta and Til e Office of President in Indonesia as Defined in the Three Constitutiolls in Theory aml Practice by A. K. Pringgodigdo. Responsibility for the facts and interpretations which follow rests with me alone, as docs responsibility for translations wherever I have provided an English text in quoting from an Indonesian or Dutch source. HERBERT FEITII
Australian National University Canberra, Australia February 196:z
One further word of appreciation. I am most grateful to Miss Evelyn Boyce of the Cornell University Press and Mrs. Susan Finch of the Cornell Modem Indonesia Project, both of whom have done a great deal more than their due to bring this book to publication. I am also indebted to Monash University, and particularly to Professor S. R. Davis and Miss Maureen Kelty, for financial and much other support at Ihis final stage, and to Mr. Leigh Scott for preparing the index.
H. F. September
1962
CONTENTS
Foreword, by George M.eT. Kahin
n
f'rejace
I
vii
Introduction: TM Heritage of Revolution Independence through Revolution The Revolutionary Leadership Indonesia as a Political Entity
1 1
'9 .6
The Tasks as Perceived: Nation Building and Economic Progress 3Z The Tasks as Perceived: Democracy and Constitutional 38
Democracy II
1II
The Hatta Cabinet, December 1949-August 1950: Transition and Unification
46
The Cabinet and the Political Balance It Represented
47
The Transfer of Sovereignty and Power
54
The Demise of the Federal States
58
The Unitarist Movement: Impetus and Functions
71
The Hatta Cabinet: Policies and Politics
77
Making a Constitution for the Unitary State
9Z
Th e Elemenu of Politics
100
Leadership in Its Social Setting
"'"
100
Contents
xviii
The Political Elite and the Political Public
>08
"Administrators· and "Solidarity Makers" The Political Parties IV
The Natslr Cabinet, September 195o-Mareh 1951: "Administrators" Th warted
.
••6
The Formation of the Cabinet
'
Crisis over W est Irian
'55 .65
The Natsir Cabinet's Fall V The Summan Cabinet, April19SI- February I9Sfl:
The Slowing of Momentum
,So
The Anti-Communist Raid of August 1951
,87
Toward a Pro-American Foreign Policy
'92
The Issue of Mufual Security Aid
,gB
The Cabinet and tbe Leaders of the Army
"'7
The Relationship with President Soekamo Problem-solving Policy and Integrative Leadership VI
Vll
'77
The Sukiman Cabinet and Its Early Problems
Tile Wilopo Cabinet, April 195fl- }lIne 1953; The Breakthrough Wliieh Failed
". ,,8
A Cabinet of Hope
225 225
Changing Alignments: A New Role for the Nahdatul Ularna
'33
Changing Alignments: The Communist Party and Nationalism
'37
The Storm in the Army
,.6
Toward Elections
273
The Fall of the Cabinet
.as
From lIatta to Wilopo: Some Trends Unfold
303
Administrative and Economic Policies
303
The Maintenance of Legitimate Authority
3"
The Functioning of Constitutional Democracy
3'9
xix
Contents
VIII The First Cabinet of Ali Sastroamid;oi0, July 1953July J955: The Rise
of tile
Parties
A Cabinet Crisis of Crystallization
33' 33'
The Cabinet and Its Early Actions
34'
The Expectation of Elections
34B
The Election Campaign
353
The Parties and the Government Service
366 373 3il4 394 409
The Politics of Indonesianization Foreign Policy and the Bandung Conference The Anny and the Toppling of the Cabinet Trends in Some Policy Areas
IX The Burhanuddin Harahap Cabinet, August 1955"March 1956: TIle Elections and After
The Reappointment of Colonel Nasution
4'4 414 424 437 440
Fighting from Positions of Weakness
444
Negotiations with the Netherlands
450
The Swing of the Pendulum The Long-awaited Elections A Recast Picture of Politics
X
The Second Cabinet of Ali Sastroamidjoio, Ma rch 19S&M orch 1957: The Eclipse of tile Porties and the Rise of
Their Heirs
462
Born amid High Expectations
462.
A New Beginning with Problem-solving Policy
473
A Wave of Anti-Chinese Feeling
481
Regional Protest : The Phase of Army-supported Smuggling
487
Maneuvers, Coups, and Colonel ZulkiBi Lubis
500
The Alternative Forms of Government Debated
501
Regional Protest: The Phase of the Coups
520
The President's Konsepsi and the ConHicts between the Parties' Heirs 538
Contents
xx
XI Conclurion Economic and Administrative Poucy. 1953-1957 Legitimacy and Constitutional Democracy. 19$3-1957 Epilogue: Onward to "Guided Democracy" The Abandonment of Constitutional Democracy Index
572 5;8 597 60g
MAPS 1 Indonesia in December 1949
2 Indonesia in early 1957
556 556
I
The Decline of Constitutional Democracy in Indonesia
Chapter I
Introduction: The Heritage of Revolution SEVERAL recent theorists have emphasized the importance of the process by which a colonial dependency achieves independence. They argue that the pattern of subsequent political development is crucially affected by the character of this process, more than by the factors which arc usually considered when the case is argued in tcnns of the question "Are they ready for independence?'" I INDEPENDENCE THROUGH REVOLUTION In lndonesia the process was revolutionary. It was by violence, by a process of far-reaching disruption of old social relationships and substitution of new ones, that the Indonesian nation marshaled the strength to force the Netherlands to withdraw from the colony. If this was not a revolution in the same sense in which the word is used for the French, Russian, and Chinese revolutions, it certainly involved a deeper shattering of social foundations than occurred in the independence struggles of any other new nation of the postwar period-with the possible exception of Vietnam. 'See, for instance, David E. Apter, The (;Qld Coast In Transition (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1955); S. N. Eisenstadt, "Sociological Aspects of Political Development in Underdeveloped Countries," Economic Deoolopl1l€nt and Cultural Clumge, V, no. 4 (1955-1956), 289-307; and Eisenstadt, "Patterns of Political Leadership and Support," paper submitted to the International Conference on RepresentaUve Govenunent I\Ild National Progress, Ibadan, Nigeria, 1959 (a paper of the Congress for Cultural Freedom, Paris).
,
•
Constitutional Democracy in Indonesia
Nor was this pattern of development accidental, a product of misunderstanding or of the fortuitous presence in the Dutch government and the government of the Indonesian Republic of persons with more than usually strong feelings of mutual hostility. There is no doubt that developments in the period of Japanese occupation of Indonesia were of major importance in contributing to the revolutionary character of the transition to independence. But in a sense which is probably even morc important this had its roots in the nature of the colonial relationship between the two countries. The Netherlands was more dependent on its colony than any other European colonial power in Asia. It had large investments there, an approrimatc 2,634 million guilders ($1.4U million) in 1940. earning an annual 191.5 million guilders ($103 million) in interest 2_a large figure indeed in comparison with the Netherlands population of a little less than nine million. But its dependence cannot be measured in financial terms alone. If the colony was of importance to those in Holland whose income was larger because of it, it was of far greater importance to Netherlanders who actually lived there. And these were a large number of persons, .:w8,26g in 1930, the year of the last census.' (Ii. probable majority of these were Eurasians of Dutch nationality. The inclusion is not inappropriate, however, at least as far as political tudes are concerned, for the vast majority of Eurasians of Dutch legal status acted politically in support of the colonial tie.) The existence in the Indies of Netherlanders, pure" and Eurasian. who were neither colonial administrators or technicians nor estate or commercial executives, but "settlers," with their own local culture and cultural institutions, suggests parallels with a type of colonial relationship which was otherwise almost nonexistent in Asia-the type found in Southern and Eastern Africa and Algeria. Ii. third major dimension of Holland's dependence on its colony was the psyCholOgical one. The Indies were Holland's only colony of importance. With the Indies, Holland was the world's third or fourth colonial power; without them it would be a cold little country on the North Sea. Nor was this simply a jingoists' cause. So much of all that the Netherlands was proud of was in the Indies, SO much of its science, its law, its religion, its education, and. of course, the colonial administration in which it took so much pride. Under these circumstances,
atti-
N
I Sumitro Djojohadilrusumo. P61'1OOlan Ekonomi di lndonuia ("EcoDomic FrobIt,ms in Indonesia"; Djakarta , Indira, 1953). pp. 8-g. • StGtfIticlll Pockdbook uf lndonmo. 1941 (Batavl.: KolH. 1941), p. 8.
Introduction
3
talk of a civilizing mission readily found adherents from among persons of a wide range of social and attitude groups. The paternalism of the post-l!}Ol "'Ethical Policy" was self-sustaining. The satisfying belief that the Indonesian wards had need of their guardians was for the most part genuine. and it extended to a large part of the Netherlands population. It is against a background of economic. personal. and psycholOgical interests of this magnitude that one must see the Netherlands' twentieth-century policies in the Indies. Unlike Britain in the case of India and Bunna. and the United States in the case of the Philippines, the Netherlands simply did not accept the necessity of any cession of self-government to Indonesia in the foreseeable future. There were Dutch groups which favored development in the direction of selfgovernment in the not too distant future. Their in8uence over policy was always sporadic, however. and was particularly slight in the 1930'S,
But in Indonesia as elsewhere the socioeconomic contradictions of modern colonialism gave rise to a nationalist movement. By the be. ginning of this century the period of Indonesia's passive withdrawal in the face of the colonial impact was ending. In the first' four decades of the century a small but growing group of Indonesians obtained secondary and higher Western education. partly to meet the needs of the for cheap white-rol1ar and government and the large foreign technical personnel. With education there came a new spirit of selfawareness and self-help, a burgeoning of modem organizations of various kinds and. growing out of these, a nationalist political movement. At the same time Indonesians in Sumatra and to a lesser extent in Kalimantan (Borneo) and Sulawesi (Celebes). areas where indigenous entrepreneurship had long traditions which the Dutch had never broken. were adapti~g themselves to prodUcing for an expanding world ·market. The rubber (in Sumatra) and copra ( in Sulawesi) small-holder industries brought with them the rapid rise of a group of newly rich farmers and traders who also wanted modem education for their children. From this group, which provided much of the soil on which the Islamic reform movement grew in the same period. nationaJism received a further body of rccruits.4
nnus
• See George MeT. KahiD, Nationalism end Revolution in Indonuic (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell Univel'liity Press, 1952), pp. 18-100; W. F. Wertheim, ll'ldonakrn Soctcty in TroM/lon (The Hague; van Haeve, 1956), pp. 95-116, 140-152; and Robert Van NJei, The EmtlTgence of the Modem Indoneston EIlts (Chicago: Quadrangle; The fugue : van Haeve, 1960), pp. 41>-7"2, 100-193.
4
Constitutional Democracy in Indonesia
The initial Dutch reaction to nationalism was mild. The early organizations and parties were subjected to a variety of restrictions, but tbey nevertheless could organize on a broad basis. The Sarekat Islam ( Islamic Association ), a militantly nationalist organization, led by merchants, persons of aristocratic origin, and others, many of them people with Western secondary education, was q uickly successful in developing bath urban and peasant support. By 1916 it had become a large organization, with some hundreds of thousands of members, and its branches functioned actively in many parts of Java. Sumatra, and Sulawesi. Moreover, it played an important p..-,rt in organizing and uniting trade unions. For four years, between 1917 and 1921, Sarekat I slam was uncler the influence of Dutch and Indonesian Marxists. The year' 1920 saw the birth of the Perserikatan Kommunist di India (Inwes Communist Association ). The government's tolerance did not last, however, In the early 1920'S, while Communists and anti-Communists fou ght for control of Sarekat Islam branches, the government intervened increasingly to prevent contact between the urban 1eaders of the organi7.lltion and the peasantry. For this reason and others, many of the Sarekat Islam branches disappeared, When a section of the Communist leadership launched short-lived revolts in late 1926 ( Batavia, Banten ) and early 1927 (West Sumatra). the government panicked and resorted to sharp repression, Some 13,000 persons were arrested and 4,500 of these sentenced, Eight hundred an~ twenty-three went to Boven Digul, the political prisoners' camp in inland West New Guinea, where many of them remained till World War II intervened,S Communist activity was brought to a virtual end, to re-emerge as an important political factor only during the Revolution , The center of anticolonialist politics now .shifted to a third major current which was neither Communist nor speci6cally Islamic. In mid1927 a group of students and recent graduates in Bandung, led by the young engineer Soekamo, established the Indonesian Nationalist Party ( Partai Nasional Indonesia, PNI ), The organization demanded complete independence. To achieve this it urged Indonesian self-reliance, nonco-operation with the Dutch authorities, and the boycotting of government employment. • Kahin, Naj/onalism and Revolution, p, 86, and Van Nid, op, cU., pp, 213-21'" 231-236; also Hany J, Benda and Ruth T. McVey, The CommUflUt UprUl~ of 1,926-1,927 in l ndoned