SUPARDJO ACCUSES GENERALS OF MURDERING 500,000 IN INDONESIA
. >On trial in Jakarta for his alleged participation in the attempted coup d'état September 30, 1965, which was defeated by generals on whom Sukarno leaned, and utilized by them as an excuse for their own coup and the subsequent witch-hunt that drenched the archipelago with blood, General Supardjo has conducted himself with extraordinary dignity, judging from the sparse reports appearing in the Western press.
According “to. the February 25 issue of the Paris daily Le Monde, Supardjo turned the tables on the-generals who put him on trial, accusing ‘them of being guilty of the murder of | "500, 000 innocent people. "
‘He told his judges: "Who should be considered responsible for the assassination of 3005 000 innocent people? It was the Council of Generals that killed these people."
Supard jo admitted that six generals had been killed in the abortive September 30 coup d'état. Then he added: "But there would have been no uprising if a Council of -Generals had not been formed previously. The plotters had something to plot against."
In the following issue, Le Monde quoted General Supardjo as saying, "I will defend Sukarno to the death. It-was the generals who sabotaged the confrontation with Malaysia. It is the Council of Generals that is now in power, while-the legal ministers are in prison."
On March 3 the prosecution demanded that Supardjo be sentenced to death. He accused the general of participating in the action in which the six generals were killed September 30, 1965, and also accused him of having had connections with the Communist party.
Meanwhile strife was reported to be flaring at several points in Java. In Surabaya in the eastern part of Java, youthful partisans of Sukarno wearing black uniforms, red berets, reportedly stormed the printing plant of an-anti-Sukarno newspaper Merdeka.
The army newspaper Berita Yudha made the incident public, saying that the demonstrators shouted, "Long live Sukarno!" According to the same source, which is not a trustworthy one in view of the current campaign being waged by the generals against Sukarno, the youths then raided a-school where they threw a bomb in-a corridor and beat up a few students who were in favor of Sukarno.
Similarly, the commander of the military region of Jakarta claimed February 24 that "the Communists" were waging a "psychological war" against the army by launching "vicious rumors to envenom public opinion." According to the commander, "slanderous letters" were being circulated attacking government leaders and some of the principal figures in ‘the army.
On the other hand, a police station in Pemalang in the center of Java, was at-— tacked by a crowd of anti-Sukarno Muslims armed with daggers. The police opened fire, killing six ‘and wounding thirteen.
THE MARCH 5 ELECTION
By Pierre Frank
Paris
The first round in the legislative elections in France has just taken place. The second round will be March 12. Already a certain number of conclusions can clearly be drawn as a result of the balloting.
There were a quarter of a million more voters than in the preceding elections in November 1962. About a million more have become qualified to vote. There were at least three million abstentions. -
Must this be taken, as is claimed by a number of bourgeois journalists, to signify a growing politicalization? In our opinion, a revival of-interest in politics has been evident for several years, but this is not the reason for the participation of such a large number of voters who habitually abstain in the legislative elections. — The revival of interest in politics is still rather weak.
The massive participation is reminiscent, on the contrary, of the referendums
utilized by de Gaulle as a plebiscite at-one time or another. In addition, de Gaulle himself made the March 5 elections into a kind of plebiscite. In fact, the evening before the vote, when the electoral campaign was closed legally and no candidate could carry on further publicity under penalty of being barred from taking office, de Gaulle appeared on television for a brief but distinct statement. His theme was simple: you: give me the National’ Assembly which I need, that is, a majority of uncohditional supporters, or there will be chaos, catastrophe. ‘(In passing, it should bé noted that only the radio and television campaigns were followed; the public meetings were ill attended, except for two or three which turned out Like staged wrestling matches. )