Gilchrist Documents: Controversy As Evidence Of Foreign Intelligence Has Andil In G30S/PKI

The military is on guard in Jakarta due to the September 30th Movement (G30S) 1965. (Wikimedia Commons)

JAKARTA - Soekarno once brought Indonesia to the eastern bloc of the Soviet Union. This relationship made many countries look like beard fires. Moreover, Bung Karno is known to be intimate with the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

This condition is seen as causing harm to the United States and Britain. The intelligence issues of the two countries infiltrated the Army (AD) surfaced. The issue appeared through Gilchrist Documents. A document often linked with foreign contributions infiltrated the Indonesian military in the September 30th Movement (G30S) 1965.

Indonesia's political life under Soekarno's control is full of dynamics. Bung Karno wants to establish his legacy in the motherland with a lighthouse project. However, this desire made Bung Karno bring Indonesia close to the eastern block.

His relationship with the leader of the Soviet Union is no joke. This condition went straight with Bung Karno's relationship with the PKI. This closeness is considered problematic. Bung Karno's closeness to the leader of the PKI, Dipa Nusantara (DN) Aidit is considered worrying.

This closeness is considered the way for the PKI to become a ruling party in Indonesia. Not to mention Bung Karno's hard business in the Malaysian confrontation. Something that makes the western bloc countries of America and Britain unhappy. In particular, the governments of Bung Karno and the Old Order sniff out bad behavior from America and England.

The Indonesian government received a controversial document on May 15, 1965. The document contains a letter written by British Ambassador Sir Andrew Gilchrist to the Young Secretary of the British Foreign Ministry in London.

The letter revealed that there was American-English intelligence that infiltrated the Indonesian Army. Others contain plans with the United Kingdom-United States to invade the Soekarno government. Later the document was known as Gilchrist Documents - according to the name of the ambassador.

The Indonesian government takes the document seriously. Moreover, Gilchrist's document reached the hands of the Head of the Intelligence Center Agency (BPI), Soebandrio. The government believes the document is an enemy's move to interfere with Indonesia's existence. Although many also doubt the authenticity of the documents.

So from these facts can be concluded, the dissemination of Gilchrist Documents, as approved by the President and General Yani, is a blanket (cover) of other purposes. Aiming to break the so-called local army friends who are also referred to as the Council of Generals, or what the accused means, the high-ranking Army officers who will carry out a coup or, at least, if the high-ranking Army officers were to take action, then it is reasoned (gerrecht-vaardigd).

"And this will be understandable both by the people in the country and the countries that have been given Gilchrist Documents. Therefore, before being accused of using covert intentions as a pretext, he had already learned from Chou En Lai (RRC Prime Minister) that Britain would not dare to attack Indonesia," said Durmawel Achmad as written by Julius Pour in the book Gerakan September 30: Perpetrators, Heroes, & Adventurers (2010).

The Soekarno government believes that there are intruders in the Indonesian Army. Even though the information was kept secret at home because it was first opened to the international community. Surprisingly, the content of Gilchrist's document became stronger when the G30S/PKI 1965 rebellion broke out.

America and Britain are considered to have made a big contribution to the G30S. Gilchrist documents are considered to be evidence of foreign involvement in the uprising. All because there is an issue that the Council General is ready to control the cabinet and replace the contents of the Soekarno government cabinet. However, the presence of Gilchrist Documents is doubtful by many parties.

Some think that the Indonesian government is taking conclusions too quickly. The government should not easily believe and immediately carry out analysis first.

Later the documents were considered fake. Narratives of document forgery are diverse. The most trusted narrative of the document was falsified by Czech intelligence on the orders of the Soviet Union. The goal is that hatred of Britain and America grows. The influence of America is reduced and the position of the Soviet Union is stronger.

In previous taklimat-talimate matters, the authenticity of Gilchrist documents has also become the subject of discussion. In the document that uses the paper letter of the British Embassy in Jakarta, it is said that there are local army friends, meaning that there are collaborators in the Indonesian Army who are British/West shells.

Later it was revealed that the document was Ladislay Bittman, a Czech intelligence officer who worked for the secret service of the Soviet Union, the KGB. As a protest against the invasion of Russian troops into Czechia in 1968, Bittman defected to the United States and uncovered everything he had done for the KGB. Including falsifying documents popularly referred to as Gilchrist Documents, "said Salim Said in the bookGestapu 65: PKI, Aidit, Sukarno, and Suharto (2018).

However, that view is not the only one that appears. There are also those who suspect that the document was falsified by the PKI. There are also those who think that there is a role in the Secret Service of the People's Republic of China. Speculation after speculation made the Gilchrist document never really completed even today.