Police arrest communist fish in latest work by Photoshop master Agan Harahap

There seems to have been a sudden spike in paranoia about communism in Indonesia lately, to the point that thugs violently attacked a motorist for wearing a communist pin and the police arrested a store owner for selling metal band t-shirts containing the hammer and sickle symbol. This is of course on top of the underlying issue, which is the government’s reluctance to discuss what really happened during the the anti-communist purge and mass killings that took place here from 1965-1966. Most Indonesians grew up listening to the government’s anti-communist propaganda about those events, which is why the ideology and even its symbols remains so incredibly taboo.  

Because of all of the current anti-communist sentiment, we almost believed it when we first heard stories on social media about the police in Yogyakarta apprehending a fish sporting a communist symbol just above its scaly head.

Thankfully, we are not yet to the point in this country where our officials are arresting communist fish. It is indeed an edited photo, created by Agan Harahap, Indonesia’s most famous Photoshop master.

Agan himself confirmed this in an interview with BBC Indonesia. He said that he created the image and the accompanying story about the fish’s arrest as a reaction to the over the top anti-communist sentiment in Indonesia lately.

“The other day in Yogyakarta, the showing of the documentary ‘Pulau Buru Tanah Air Beta’ was raided by a mass organization, and that store owner was arrested too. I thought [if there is anti-communist sentiment] because of film and t-shirts, what’s next?” he said.

On a more serious note, Agan said that he hopes his work can inspire people to see the ridiculousness of Indonesia’s anti-communist paranoia.

“This is part of the work of an artist, to see all the phenomenon going on around him and expressing it in a way that is in principle beneficial to the people around them,” he said.

Even more seriously, if the widely held belief that communism is taboo and evil continues to prevail in Indonesia, we can put to rest any hopes of the government recognizing, let alone apologizing for, the mass killings of 1965.



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