Changes Observed In Indonesia

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31001, 5 March 1966, Page 16

Changes Observed In Indonesia

“There doesn’t appear to me to be any chance of Communism recovering for a very long period from the disaster it has undergone in Indonesia.” said the general secretary of the National Council of Churches in New Zealand (the Rev. D. M. Taylor) yesterday on his return from a six-week overseas trip.

Mr Taylor, who last visited Indonesia two and a half vears ago, said that the public attitude to communism had changed. When he was last there many Christians were extremely tolerant of the Communist Party and many were members. These people had now suffered a disillusionment in the party. Djakarta was in a state of high tension and the norma! course of daily living was greatly strained. There were many anti-Communist demon-

strators which could become dangerous, and unlike Communist demonstrations, such as the posting of placards and signs on public buildings, which occurred in the middle of the night, the antiCommunists demonstrated in the middle of the day. The main purpose of Mr Taylor's trip was to attend a meeting of the central committee of the World Council of Churches in Geneva. He also had discussions with members of staffs of councils of churches in Hawaii. London. Paris, Beirut, and Djakarta. On New Zealand’s present image in Asia, Mr Taylor said that she was looked to for aid all the time, and that the view of New Zealand as one of the rich nations of the world was often exaggerated Aid To Churches While it was obviously necessary for New Zealand to continue to give considerable aid to churches in other countries, it was also necessary for New Zealand to realise that she also had great needs, Mr Taylor said. One of these needs was to counter her isolation. This could only be done by sending representatives to conferences in different parts of the world. There were many important ones that New Zealand had so far not attended, but he hoped over the next year that it would be possible for representatives to attend several more to meet the people of the area and those at the meeting from other countries. “I hope it will be possible for New Zealand churches to find enough finance to ensure that we participate in various international gatherings in future.”