Word: sumatra
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...Djakarta's smoke-filled House of Parliament last week, goateed Ali Sastroamidjojo looked more like a prisoner entering the dock than a Prime Minister about to make a policy statement. For once, appearances were not deceptive. Between his failure to put an end to military revolts in Sumatra and the recent withdrawal of the powerful Moslem Masjumi Party from his Cabinet, Premier Ali was indeed a man on trial...
...first week of Indonesia's corruption-ridden and strife-torn eighth year of independence, there was much food for thought. The huge island of Sumatra (whose oil and rubber provide two-thirds of Indonesia's export revenue) was in open revolt against the government. Sumatrans complain that the national government, sitting in the Java capital of Djakarta, is too Java-centered.* Last week in North Sumatra, three of four government regiments were reportedly rallying to the support of Rebel Leader Colonel Maludin Simbolon, once the rising star of the Indonesian army, who is in hiding in the hills...
Premier Ali, at the head of a nondescript coalition government, stays tenuously in power only because of Sukarno's sufferance. The most powerful Moslem party in Ali's coalition called for his resignation, but the specter of open army revolt in Sumatra finally held a cabinet together: it might be disastrous to the young nation to let an army mutiny bring down a government...
Less than 24 hours after he spoke came news that 4,000 men of the army's Banteng (Buffalo) Division had seized control of Central Sumatra in a bloodless revolt. Organizer of the coup was Lieut. Colonel Ahmad Husein, an ex-guerrilla leader who was called "the Tiger of Central Sumatra" for his exploits against the Dutch during the revolution. Husein turned over titular authority of the region to 37-year-old Colonel Simbolon, a Dutch-educated Protestant who only a year ago was Mohammed Hatta's candidate for chief of staff. Simbolon announced that he would rule...
...hydroelectric and mining projects) which the Russians are offering Indonesia will place Soviet "technicians" in strategic points in the sprawling republic, which already has a well-organized Communist Party (estimated membership: 200,000). The Indonesians, however, were said to be planning to divert Russian aid to the islands of Sumatra and the Celebes...