Jakarta Alerts In Panic The Day After G30S

JAKARTA - The September 30th Movement (G30S) did not escape controversy. The debate regarding the trigger, the mastermind, who was involved is still a mystery. However, many agree that the kidnapping and murder of a number of army generals brought panic. The day after the G30S eruption or October 1, 1965, the people of Jakarta panicked.

Jakartans are advised to stay at home. The issue of the military taking over the city surfaced. Because of that in order not to fall victim to many, schools were closed and offices vacated. The G30S incident began with the kidnapping and killing of a number of army generals by military forces.

These troops became the spearhead of the operation to kidnap generals which were considered to be perpetuating the coup attempt against the Soekarno government. To that end, military forces have been preparing throughout the night of September 30 at Lubang Buaya. The operation started. Then the military group was divided into seven troop groups.

They were assigned to each kidnap seven generals to take to Lubang Buaya. The targets of the military forces were the Minister of Defense, General AH Nasution and the Commander of the Army, Lieutenant General Ahmad Yani. The rest were Army general staff, starting with Major General S. Parman, Major General Mas Tirtodarmo Harjono, Major General R. Supriapto, Brigadier General Soetojo Siswomiardjo, and Brigadier DI Panjaitan.

However, only six groups managed to bring the requested target. Meanwhile, the seventh group assigned to arrest General AH Nasution ended in failure. Only his aide, Pierre Tendean, was arrested.

“The seventh group assigned to capture the most important target, General AH Nasution, returned with only his aides. In the midst of the chaos of the raid, the troops shot Nasution's five-year-old daughter and a security guard who was in front of the house next door, namely the house of Deputy Prime Minister II (Waperdam II) Johannes Leimena. Nasution managed to jump over the wall behind his residence and hide in the house of a neighbor, the Iraqi Ambassador,” said John Roosa in the book Excuses of Mass Murder: The September 30 Movement and the Suharto Coup (2008).

All who were kidnapped a few days later were found dead in the Lubang Buaya well. Since then, there has been speculation after speculation as to who is the mastermind behind the G30S. Based on the history written by the New Order (Orba), the sole perpetrator of the rebellion was the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). But a series of studies said that the perpetrators of the G30S were never single.

Some mention the involvement of the United States (US)-UK. Some say that the G30S emerged from AD's own internals. It could also be that a mixture of internal AD was infiltrated by the PKI, which wanted the G30S to perpetuate its power.

“The communist newspaper Warta Bakti, October 1, 1965 evening edition, and Harian Rakyat, October 2, 1965 edition, both published in Jakarta, made it clear that the events of September 30, 1965 were an internal incident of the Army, something that Cornell scholars later swallowed up in their research. special publication that would later become known as the Cornell Paper.”

"What is meant by the internal events of the Army is the protest movement of 'advanced' officers who want to rid the army of diseases of corruption and various forms of abuse contained in it," said G. Moedjanto in the book Indonesia of the 20th Century, Volume 2 (1989). ).

The day after, the troops began to openly appear to the public. They call themselves the G30S troops. The troops occupied the central station of Radio Rakyat Indonesia (RRI). They then forced radio broadcasters to deliver statements about trying to thwart the Council of Generals coup.

At the end of the radio broadcast, the G30S troops mentioned the documents that were read out according to the statement from Lieutenant Colonel Untung as the Commander of the September 30th Movement. The description of the G30S then made people guess what happened. Then all the citizens of Jakarta began to worry.

“Some of my friends were talking about what they heard on the radio. Some of them even saw strange sights on the streets that morning. A friend, Aryatmo Tjokronegoro, said that his neighbor on Jalan Sumenep, Brigadier General Soetojo, was arrested in the middle of the night. According to Aryatmo, Soetojo often holds meetings at his house.”

“So, he suspects that this brigadier general was arrested for possibly being involved with what was broadcast on the radio that morning, namely the attempted coup by the Council of Generals. Another friend said that he had seen a troop of soldiers guarding Merdeka Square. Another friend said that he had seen an armored vehicle passing by Jalan Merdeka Timur," wrote Student Force 66, Firman Lubis in his book Jakarta 1950-1970 (2018).

Dolly Zegerius, mother of Japto Soerjosoemarno (Pancasila Youth Leader) continued to feel the panic of Jakarta residents on the morning of October 1st. Her husband asked Dolly to stay at home and listen to the radio because Jakarta was tense. The military is everywhere and the streets are closed.

At that time, it was as if Jakarta was surrounded by the military. For this reason, the residents of Jakarta then anticipate that they will not fall victim by giving school children and office workers a day off. However, many of them are curious and want to get closer to the location inhabited by military forces.

“What exactly happened and where the president is remains unclear. Many stories spread about the standard of place in the elite area of Menteng where a number of generals lived. For safety's sake, schools sent students home early, offices began to empty, and the first armored cars started rolling down the streets. For a moment Dolly pricked up her ears and glanced out. A little further from his house, soldiers have blocked the road,” recalls Delly Zegerius as Hilde Janssen wrote in the book Tanah Air Baru, Indonesia (2016).

The candidate for New Order leader Suharto also informed his closest people to stay at home and be on guard. In fact, several people have been asked by Suharto to pack clothes in case Jakarta's conditions become more precarious. However, Suharto immediately took action to try to restore the situation. He took command from his desk at Kostrad on October 1, 1965. At the same time, Suharto moved to launch a counterattack. Within a day the power of the G30S was immediately dispersed.

“The day after the G30S/PKI incident broke out in 1965, I, who lived in a pavilion on Jalan Waringin, Menteng, Central Jakarta, was summoned to Pak Harto's residence on Jalan Agus Salim. Pak Harto told me not to leave the house, also to prepare enough clothes so that if the situation became urgent, I was ready to be picked up to evacuate. But if it is past 12 pm nothing happens, it means the situation has been controlled,” concluded the Secretary of the Army Wives Association (Persit) Kostrad, Tati Sumiyati Darsoyo in Pak Harto's book: The Untold Stories (2008).

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