1965.04.11: April 11, 1965: Headlines: COS - Indonesia: New York Times: Communists in Indonesia Harass Peace Corps Volunteers
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1965.04.11: April 11, 1965: Headlines: COS - Indonesia: New York Times: Communists in Indonesia Harass Peace Corps Volunteers
Communists in Indonesia Harass Peace Corps Volunteers
There were Communist demonstration against the previous Peace Corps team here and there have been similar demonstrations against Mr. Duffer and Mr. Johnson since the arrived in December. Communist newspapers relentlessly attack their presence and hardly a week passes without a Communist demand to the local authorities that they be expelled. The two Peace Corpsmen said they had so far been subjected to little personal harassment and had never been threatened with violence. "Sometimes when we walk down the street," Mr. Johnson said, "some guy will say, 'I'd like to smash you, Peace Corps' but nobody has ever done anything to us." The Indonesian Communists normally shun violence against individuals, but they are attempting to create an atmosphere of hostility toward Mr. Duffer and Mr. Johnson that will gradually make it impossible for them to work here. The Communists are employing the same tactic in other Indonesian cities, where 29 Peace Corps volunteers work. To the Communists the Peace Corps represents an element in a dwindling United States presence in Indonesia, a presence they want eradicated.
Communists in Indonesia Harass Peace Corps Volunteers
Java Reds Harry Peace Corpsmen
Communists' Aim Is to Out Them from Indonesia
by Neil Sheehan
Special to the New York Times
April 11, 1965
Jogjakarta, Indonesia - Two young Peace Corps voslunteers may not be here much longer. The walls of buildings all over this central Javanese city are scrawled with sings reading "Kick Out Peace Corps."
Thomas Duffer, 24 years old, of Hodgenville, KY and Wayne Johnson, 23, of Algona, Iowa, teach track and basketball to Indonesian youths in Jogjakarta. Both work in local high schools and run private basketball and track clinics.
They live with an Indonesian family, eat Indonesian meals, and are paid a monthly salary of 12,000 rupiahs, about $250 at the open market rate of exchange.
Neither has any illusions about what they are accomplishing here.
"The Indonesian climate," Mr. Johnson said. "isn't conducive to hard physical exercise."
The temperature in Jogjakarta hovers in the eighties and nineties the year round.
Reds Call Them Spies
Although neither Mr. Duffer nor Mr. Johnson looks particularly sinister, the Communists contend they are Central Intelligence Agency spies and "agents of American imperialism."
There were Communist demonstration against the previous Peace Corps team here and there have been similar demonstrations against Mr. Duffer and Mr. Johnson since the arrived in December. Communist newspapers relentlessly attack their presence and hardly a week passes without a Communist demand to the local authorities that they be expelled.
The two Peace Corpsmen said they had so far been subjected to little personal harassment and had never been threatened with violence.
"Sometimes when we walk down the street," Mr. Johnson said, "some guy will say, 'I'd like to smash you, Peace Corps' but nobody has ever done anything to us."
The Indonesian Communists normally shun violence against individuals, but they are attempting to create an atmosphere of hostility toward Mr. Duffer and Mr. Johnson that will gradually make it impossible for them to work here.
The Communists are employing the same tactic in other Indonesian cities, where 29 Peace Corps volunteers work. To the Communists the Peace Corps represents an element in a dwindling United States presence in Indonesia, a presence they want eradicated.
The Government press agency bulletin carries a number of reports each week of Communist demonstrations against Peace Corps volunteers on the neighboring islands of Sumatra and Sulawesi and Communist demands for their expulsion. A similar pattern of Communist demonstrations and demands preceded the Government seizure of American-owned oil companies and rubber estates and the closing down of United States Information Service activities in Indonesia.
Mr. Duffer and Mr. Johnson said they still were usually received with politeness, but they conceded that many Indonesians were cool toward them.
Links to Related Topics (Tags):
Peace Corps Annual Report: 1965; Peace Corps Indonesia; Directory of Indonesia RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Indonesia RPCVs; Safety and Security of Volunteers
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Story Source: New York Times
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Indonesia; Safety
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