Indonesia and small wars in Southeast Asia-Post WWII?

[JeffWolf]

I should have mentioned that I have already come across these three sources:

http://trove.nla.gov.au

http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/exp.../services.aspx

http://www.awm.gov.au/search/collections/

Thanks again
Jeff

[BRICK0302]

Kevin,
I'm in Indonesia now basically studying some of the same topics, currently trying to read the Official Indonesian Army's history of the Darul Islam rebellion in Aceh. I think Kilcullen does a good job highlighting why these conflicts are worth learning about, as many are highly instructive. My focus has been Aceh, and I have a lot of readings on it I can recommend. I concur with the recommendation to check out the ICG. Kirsten Schulze or Ed Aspinall are some of the best on the topic.

[wiku]

Feet to the Fire, Subversion as Foreign Policy, and Permesta: Half a Rebellion, about the Permesta/PRRI rebellion in the late 1950s:http://www.amazon.com/Feet-Fire-Oper...et+to+the+Fire

Kopassus by Conboy also mentions Indonesia considering support for Cambodia against the Khmer Rouge in the early 1970s. They sent a fact-finding mission there and assessed the situation to be hopeless, and decided against participation:http://www.amazon.com/Kopassus-Insid...words=Kopassus

[flagg]

Kopassus by Conboy also mentions Indonesia considering support for Cambodia against the Khmer Rouge in the early 1970s. They sent a fact-finding mission there and assessed the situation to be hopeless, and decided against participation.

Good read.......since there's little in the western publishing world from the Indonesian perspective.

I had no idea Indonesia had a few pers in Vietnam and a bunch in Cambodia for a bit until I read the book.....

And confirmed in person earlier this year having the chance to meet a bunch of Cambodian Army 911 SF Brigade members, a unit with quite close ties to Indonesian Kopassus to this day.

Indonesia has been a sponsor for training Cambodian Army since the late 60's I believe...and to this day have quite close ties.

3 who I met wore Indonesian Kopassus berets/badges as daily uniform wear having completed their training in Indonesia.

Conboy also has a book on Indonesian Intelligence that I have on Kindle..........

BUT have yet to crack open yet due to a huge pile of Afgan related material more relevant for me at the moment.

Voices From a Border War is also pretty good and recently published book from the NZ/Commonwealth side of the house:http://www.amazon.com/Voices-Border-.../dp/0646225030

[jmm99]

I'd suggest it's fair to say:

1. Indonesia was more important than Indochina (Vietnam) by an order or more of magnitude; and

2. What happened in Indonesia in 1965-1966 (extermination of the Indonesian Communist Party) was a material (if not the most important) factor in what happened to Southeast Asia after that.

See, this SWC post, They Never Fail To Hyperbolate .... , and its continuation; and Indonesian killings of 1965–66 (Wiki).

That leads to two questions in considering the Vietnam War's history, revisionist history, counter-revisionist history, revisionist-counter-revisionist history, etc. ad nauseum:

1. What (if any) causal effect did the actual US 1964-1965 Vietnam combat units intervention have with respect to the Indonesian killings of 1965–1966.

2. With respect to the sundry alternate COAs (counter-factual histories) offered for Vietnam at SWC and elsewhere (changing events during the period 1945-1965 would be most critical, but changed events after 1965 might also play), what would their effects have been on Indonesia in particular and Southeast Asia in general.

He or she who wants to revisit and revise history has some obligation to sketch the future altered by the pet revision - and consider higher order effects, albeit a difficult, wicked problem.

All of that has much to do with current affairs - the search for lessons learned in the aftermath of two failures in nation-building Iraq and Astan - whether also a general failure in Southwest Asia remains to be seen.

A second reason to look at the Indonesian killings of 1965–66 is to face up to the reality of a lot of killings - with the face up requiring us to take ourselves (in our minds) totally outside the kinder and gentler society in which most of us in the US live.

A recent documentary, The Act of Killing, presents the oral histories (and re-enactments) of over 40 of the 1965-1966 Indonesian killers. The DVD is listed on Amazon-UK as being available in Nov 2013 (region 2 only)

Indonesia- New documentary film on mass killings stirs memories (short trailer 2.5 min.)

101 East : Indonesia's Killing Fields (long trailer 25 min.)

Both interviews with the filmmaker Josh Oppenheimer are worth a look

Interview with The Act of Killing film maker: Joshua Oppenheimer (36 min.)

DP/30: The Act of Killing, documentarian Joshua Oppenheimer (42 min.)

Of obvious relevance to the just war theories (NB: plural usage) and command responsibility.

Regards

Mike