DELIAR Noer, 78, is a witness to history. When this nation was holding its first general elections in 1955, he was leading the Islamic Students Association (HMI), the largest student organization then. He recorded the event as a masterpiece election in Indonesian democracy. Indonesia was then young, still enthused over the triumphant struggle for independence.

Ten years on, the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), which emerged fourth in the 1955 e