In Reply to: It's because posted by Fiona on Friday, 16. April 2010 at 17:53 Bali Time:
Also at the time of the Asian Monetary Crisis and in the 60s.
After the aborted attempt to unseat the first president of Indonesia, Sukarno, by the communists during which several Generals and one small girl, the daughter of General Nasutian (sp?) were slaughtered gruesomely the eventual outcome (to cut a long story short) was the rise of Suharto.
However there was a monumental bloodletting across Indonesia against perceived/real communists. In this time many Chinese were slaughtered, raped or both as suspected communists. Many were resented anyway due to perceived wealth usually gained with hard work and family co-operation
Also many local scores were settled and whole villages were slaughtered under the guise of eradicating communists. Surprisingly, or not, depending on you viewpoint, the worst slaughters were on the island of Bali.
That is why, as Fiona says, the PKI (communist party of Indonesia) is to this day outlawed. It is also why, if asked, it is better to profess to a religion; pick a religion any one will do; rather than to to say you have none because lack of a religion is equated with communism and not well received. Even if the person you are talking to smiles politely with raised eyebrows, they will still most likely think less of you for your confessed Atheism, Agnosticism or skepticism.
Modern Indonesian history is very interesting and as complex and dark as a shadow puppet play (Wayang Kulit).