Bintang Merah (

Indonesian Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

: Red Star) was a magazine of the

Communist Party of Indonesia The Communist Party of Indonesia (Indonesian language, Indonesian: ''Partai Komunis Indonesia'', PKI) was a communist party in the Dutch East Indies and later Indonesia. It was the largest non-ruling communist party in the world before its Indo ...

which published in

Jakarta Jakarta (; , Betawi language, Betawi: ''Jakartè''), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta (; ''DKI Jakarta'') and formerly known as Batavia, Dutch East Indies, Batavia until 1949, is the capital and largest city of Indonesia and ...

from 1945 to 1948 and again from 1950 to 1965. It described itself as a ''magazine of Marxist-Leninist politics and theory.''

History

The magazine began publication at the end of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

with the departure of Japanese forces from the

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

. However, it was banned in 1948 during the

Madiun Affair The Madiun Affair (), known locally as the Communist Party of Indonesia rebellion of 1948 (), was an armed conflict between the government of the self-proclaimed Republic of Indonesia and the left-wing opposition group ''Front Demokrasi Rakyat ...

along with other communist newspapers such as ''Buruh'', ''Revolusioner'', and ''Suara Ibu Kota''. With all the newspapers banned,

Musso Munawar Musso (1897 – 31 October 1948), commonly known as Musso, was an Indonesian revolutionary and political figure who was the leader of the Communist Party of Indonesia and one of the key figures in the 1948 Madiun affair. Biography Earl ...

, the

PKI PKI may refer to: * Partai Komunis Indonesia, the Communist Party of Indonesia * Peter Kiewit Institute, an Information Technology and Engineering school of the University of Nebraska system * Protein kinase inhibitor, a type of enzyme inhibitor t ...

leader, went on ''Radio Gelora Pemoeda'' and denounced the government of

Sukarno Sukarno (6 June 1901 – 21 June 1970) was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967. Sukarno was the leader of the Indonesian struggle for independenc ...

and

Mohammad Hatta Mohammad Hatta ( ; 12 August 1902 – 14 March 1980) was an Indonesian statesman, nationalist, and independence activist who served as the country's first Vice President of Indonesia, vice president as well as the third prime minister. Known as ...

, stating that they were following a policy of capitulation towards the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

and that they had risen to power during the

Japanese occupation of the Dutch East Indies The Empire of Japan occupied the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia) during World War II from March 1942 until after the end of the war in September 1945. In May 1940, Germany German invasion of the Netherlands, occupied the Netherlands, and ma ...

with ties to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. In the early independence period, the political alignments in

shifted and the Communists became closer to

. In August 1950, the magazine was allowed to start publishing again twice per month. The new editorial staff were D. N. Aidit, Lukman,

Njoto Lukman Njoto or Njoto (17 January 1927 – 13 December 1965) was a senior national leader of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI), who joined the party shortly after the country's declaration of independence, and was killed following the 1965 ...

and

Peris Pardede Peris Pardede (1918–1982) was an Indonesian politician who was a key figure in the Communist Party of Indonesia during the Sukarno era. He held various roles, including editor of the party magazine ''Bintang Merah'', representative of the party ...

. But they still faced occasional persecution; in August 1951 there were mass arrests of leftists of various parties in

East Java East Java (, , ) is a Provinces of Indonesia, province of Indonesia located in the easternmost third of Java island. It has a land border only with the province of Central Java to the west; the Java Sea and the Indian Ocean border its northern ...

, and editor (and PKI central committee member) B.O. Hutapea was among them, along with editors of ''Trompet Masjarakat'', ''Republik'' and editors of a number of

Chinese Indonesian Chinese Indonesians (), or simply ''Orang Tionghoa'' or ''Tionghoa'', are Indonesians whose ancestors arrived from China at some stage in the last eight centuries. Chinese Indonesians are the fourth largest community of Overseas Chinese in th ...

papers. This was after an earlier round of raids on Communists in East Java, which Hutapea had called a "politics of demoralization" being waged against them by the government. ''Bintang Merah'' claimed to have a circulation of 10,000 by the end of 1950 but gradually declined to under 8,000 in 1953. It was surpassed in circulation by another party paper,

Harian Rakjat () was an Indonesian newspaper published by the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) from 1951 to 1965. The motto was ('For the people there is only one daily, Harian Rakjat!'). Harian Rakyat was managed by Njoto as a member of the editoria ...

, which went from 2,000 circulation in 1951 to 15,000 in 1953. It is unclear for how long it ceased publication, but a report from early 1964 reports that ''Bintang Merah'' was once again allowed to resume publication. However, it was permanently closed in 1965 with the banning of the

after the

September 30 Movement The Thirtieth of September Movement (, also known as G30S, and by the syllabic abbreviation Gestapu for ''Gerakan September Tiga Puluh'', Thirtieth of September Movement, also unofficially called Gestok, for ''Gerakan Satu Oktober'', or Firs ...

. Most of the editors faced trials and became political prisoners or were executed. B.O. Hutapea escaped and lived in hiding for several years, being finally killed in a shootout with police in

Blitar Blitar is a landlocked city in East Java, Indonesia, about 73 km from Malang and 167 km from Surabaya. The area lies within longitude 111° 40' – 112° 09' East and its latitude is 8° 06' South. The city of Blitar lies at an altitude ...

in 1968.

External links

A 1963 speech by Bintang Merah editor B.O. Hutapea
(in

)

References

Communist magazines Communist Party of Indonesia Defunct newspapers published in Indonesia Indonesian-language newspapers 1945 establishments in Indonesia 1965 disestablishments in Indonesia {{Indonesia-stub