The Region: Honouring the Past, Celebrating the Future

Jul 3, 2026

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Regional editorial text based on Indonesian studies in Melbourne describes the activism and influence of Soe Hok Gie and Arief during and after 1966, including student demonstrations, radio scripts, newspapers, and opposition to injustices linked to the PKI. It highlights their collaboration with public figures such as Mochtar Lubis and their later careers as columnists. The narrative also reflects on Arief’s evolving intellectual stance, his public role’s personal cost, and the theme of loneliness in an inaugural professorial lecture.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages2

Reading Time3 min

AccessFree to download

The Region

Student activism and radio work

Writing, publishing, and public influence

Later intellectual life and professorial reflection

24 The Region News from Australia and the Pacific Indonesian Studies in Melbourne: Honouring the Past, Celebrating the Future Regional Editor Edwin Jurriëns and Cathy Harper Upon his return to Jakarta, he joined with a militant Islamic youth group in ransacking and burning of buildings associated with the PKI. By early 1966, he was an active leader in student demonstrations on the streets, expressing the Tritura (Tri Tuntutan Rakyat-Three Demands of the People): calling for the President to ban the PKI, toreshuffle the Cabinet, and to lower the price of basic commodities. This was part of a wider campaign by the newly formed KAMI (Kesatuan Aksi Mahasiswa Indonesia-University Student Action Front), but his group of campus-based students from the Faculties of Letters and Psychology acted both autonomously and in concert with others. Among other activities, the demonstrators took their protests to cabinet ministers and even to the President. This was a risky business because Sukarno was recalcitrant and tried hard to restore his authority, encouraging those still loyal to him to confront the protesters. Arief was unable to take an active part in these demonstrations because he had fallen seriously ill with tuberculosis. Nevertheless, behind the scenes, he worked with a group of writers and artists preparing placards and posters that were used by the demonstrators. After Sukarno was compelled to surrender powers to General Soeharto on 11 March 1966 and action was taken on the students’demands, Hok Gie and Arief both engaged in preparing and writing scripts for broadcastson the student Radio AMPERA. They worked together harmoniously and effectively. This was an important turning point in their personal relationship. The two brothers were also contributors to the two new student newspapers that appeared in mid-1966—the Jakarta daily Harian KAMI and the Bandung weekly Mahasiswa Indonesia—that were intent on attacking all aspects of the Old Order and its leadership. In July 1966 the journalist and novelist Mochtar Lubis was released from detention. He had been visited in early March on several occasions while still in detention by both brothers who admired him for his principled opposition to Sukarno. Mochtar soon launched the magazine Horison, destined fora while to become Indonesia’s leading literary magazine. Arief (still under the name Soe Hok Djin) became a member of its original editorial board together with luminaries like the literary critic HB Jassin. At around the same time Hok Gie’s very first article in the press appeared in the student weekly Mahasiswa Indonesia under the title ‘Why I chose gaol – Mochtar Lubis and politics’. Both brothers went on to become noted columnists in the mainstream press, particularly in Kompas and Sinar Harapan. But unlike many of their contemporaries, they Fig. 3: Soe Hok Gie, approx. 1968 (Photo courtesy John Maxwell, original source unknown) . did not remain silent in the face of injustices. In particular, Hok Gie’s two-part Kompas article in July 1967 on “The future social consequences of the Gestapu affair” was probably the first time that the horrendous scale of injustice and human suffering caused to the victims of the drive against the PKI and its affiliates after October 1965 was raised in the Indonesian press. In contrast to their friend Mochtar Lubis, both brothers took up the cause of the many thousands of political prisoners detained without charge or trial. In the last phase of his life Hok Gie felt alone in his struggle. But as Arief stood beside his brother’s coffin in East Java, he declared“Gie, you are not alone.” Arief soon assumed the mantle of the activist, moving beyond the spoken and written word by leading campaigns against corruption, boycotting the stagemanaged New Order elections, and opposing the expensive Taman Mini theme park. Both brothers were public intellectuals who were steadfast in their courage and consistent in their defenc

FAQs

What roles did Soe Hok Gie and Arief play during the student demonstrations in 1966?

They took part in preparing and writing materials for student actions, including scripts for broadcasts on student Radio AMPERA, and contributed to student newspapers and protest communications.

How were Mochtar Lubis and Horison connected to the brothers’ work?

While in detention, Mochtar Lubis was visited by the brothers, and after release he launched Horison, where Arief joined the original editorial board alongside major literary figures.

What was the significance of Hok Gie’s 1967 Kompas articles?

The July 1967 two-part Kompas articles raised, for the Indonesian press, the scale of injustice and human suffering suffered by victims connected to the post-October 1965 crackdown.

Jul 3, 2026

Upload by Eliana