Indonesian Political Exiles since the Cold War

This is the first English-language book to document the fate of thousands of Indonesians who were overseas in 1965 when a military regime came to power in their homeland. Caught up in the politics of the Cold War, many hundreds who were unwilling to support the regime were rendered stateless, unable to return to Indonesia, and trapped in exile. While a pogrom was conducted against the Indonesian Communist Party and other opponents of the military regime in Indonesia, exiles strived to maintain a critical left-wing opposition to the Suharto military regime while scattered abroad. By analysing their experiences, looking in depth at the situation of exiles in China, the Soviet Union, North Korea, Burma and the Netherlands, this account traces their collective fate as victims — and survivors — of the Suharto regime and the Cold War. This study contributes to the re-interpretation of Indonesia’s past, to a more nuanced understanding of the Cold War’s impact in Asia, and to the field of diasporic and exilic studies.