Rivals in the Same Boat

The entirely guided political situation during the early 1960s put many cultural specialists in an uncertain situation. Many who refused to be regulated by political parties and rejected the dogma that 'politics is commander' came to identify with the Cultural Manifesto petition, better known as Manikebu. Unfortunately the Manifesto drew the ire of the Sukarno regime, the PKI, Lekra and other pro-Manipol Usdek groups. Nonetheless, the fate of the manikebuists was far better than that of the Lekra culturalists following the abortive coup of 1965, perpetrated by a group of army officers calling itself the September 30 Movement. Manikebuists were among those hunted down, tortured, imprisoned, banished and murdered.