Preference for Privacy

President Sukarno last week was in the midst of a ceremony installing the new Indonesian Ambassador to Syria when suddenly another idea hit him. Turning on a small cluster of newsmen at the Merdeka Palace, Sukarno stormed, "I told you before that I would kick out all foreign correspondents who report lies. To hell with your lies! All correspondents out!"

With that, formal ouster orders were sent to the handful of U.S. reporters in Indonesia--the Associated Press's Antoine Yared, the United Press International's Raymond E. Stannard, and the

New York Times's stringer Donald Kirk. What riled Sukarno were widely printed reports that since the Red-backed Sept. 30 coup attempt, he has lost much of his power to the military leaders, who are effectively suppressing Indonesia's large Communist party. "I am still Supreme Commander," huffed Sukarno.

From the look of things in Indonesia, Sukarno may need all the silence he can get. He himself disclosed sorrowfully that the army-backed anti-Communist purge had taken a toll of 87,000 known dead. And demonstrations occurred in Djakarta nearly every day last week, protesting the government's harsh new economic measures, which included the revaluation of the rupiah, to combat inflation. The result has been a severe reduction in the average Indonesian's buying power.

Sukarno, of course, is not really to blame for the program, for it was Military Strongman Abdul Haris Nasution's soldiers who approved the economic purge. But Nasution is happy enough to let Sukarno take credit--or blame--as undisputed "boss." So long as Sukarno is around as a still popular image among Indonesia's masses, Nasution has a buffer between the people's ire and the army. When, as may happen, the masses become disenchanted with Sukarno, Nasution has a readymade scapegoat.

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