Jingo Jamboree

Djakarta was all decked out for another political circus. Along the sere, sun-scoured boulevards of Indonesia's capital, the gaudiest splashes of color were billboards showing Uncle Sam stomping a few Negroes, handsome Asians engaged in a fierce tug of war with ugly white colonialists, a fearless President Sukarno hurling Malaysia's cringing Tunku Abdul Rahman into the Malacca Strait. Illuminated fountains tinkled merrily around the unfinished obelisk designed by Sukarno to commemorate 20 years of Indonesian independence. Across from the burnt-out shell of the British embassy, the Hotel Indonesia dispensed hot water, air conditioning and Palmolive soap in a futile attempt to insulate political delegates from the shabby city around them.

Relays of Runners. The occasion was the 45th anniversary of the Partai Ko-nntnis Indonesia, Asia's oldest Commu nist Party and, with 3,000,000 members, its second largest.* The P.K.I.'s jingo jamboree brought relays of runners bearing red and yellow flags into Djakarta from points as distant as Bali (560 miles), tied up the capital's Mercedes and betjak (pedicab) traffic for three hours with a torchlight parade that ended in an effigy-burning of Uncle Sam and the Tunku. Over the whole scene reared a 40-ft. hammer and sickle woven from straw and bamboo.

Appearing at the stadium named in his honor, Bung (Brother) Karno applauded the P.K.I, as "a very important factor in the Indonesian revolution." His 33-minute speech drew cheers from such honored guests as the Red Chinese, Albanian, North Vietnamese and Cuban delegations. And the U.S. (which has granted Indonesia $896 million in aid) observed the occasion with an ambassadorial switch. American Ambassador Howard Palfrey Jones, 66, a seven-year veteran of the Bung's bombast, of whom it has been said, "Sukarno perhaps understood Jones better than Jones understood Sukarno," departed, with U.S.-Indonesian relations at their lowest ebb since 1958--a fact that clearly delighted the Communists.

In their own speeches, P.K.I, officials pressed Sukarno for elections at the village level, confident that they could win control of Java, which represents 70% of Indonesia's 104 million population. Party Boss D. N. Aidit suggested that Indonesia's 412,000-man armed forces be "supervised" by politically oriented NASAKOM ("guided democracy") cadres, which the P.K.I. believes it could dominate. That seemed all right with Sukarno. "Go ahead," he urged the P.K.I. "Go onward and never retreat."

Plenty to Celebrate. The main theme of the week, of course, was "crush Malaysia," and Sukarno's invaders were trying to do just that. In the biggest action of the two-year border war, more than 100 Indonesian regulars tackled British and Malaysian troops in a running jungle battle on Sarawak.

Indonesian pressure on Malaysia--originally urged in 1961 by the P.K.I. --has raised Malaysia's defense costs nearly fivefold (to $70 million this year, with an estimated $300 million anticipated by 1970). The Tunku's government has been forced to take emergency measures, including arrest without warrant and banning of strikes. Dissidents of every stripe, from straight Chinese Communists to reactionary Malay opportunists, are using the "confrontation" issue with Indonesia to serve their own purposes. Clearly the P.K.I, had plenty to celebrate last week.

*Surpassed only by Red China's 18 million.

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