Little known result of the Vietnam War.
I watched a DVD
yesterday of Don Richardson speaking about a little known outcome of the
Vietnam War. First, a bit about Don Richardson. In the early 1960’s he and his
young family went to live in the back country of Indonesia as missionaries
among the Sawi people. The Swai were head hunters and cannibals, and they were
always at war with neighboring tribes. As a result of the work of God through
the Richardson’s, the entire Sawi culture was transformed by the Gospel of
Jesus Christ. Don Richardson is a speaker and author, having written numerous
books including “Peace Child”, “Eternity in Their Hearts”, “Lords of the Earth”,
and recently, “Secrets of the Koran” (all of which I can recommend). Today, Don
Richardson, now in his 80’s, still travels and speaks frequently about his
experiences among the Sawi. I recently heard him speak, and it was at that
event that I learned of the DVD, “How America’s ‘Loss’ in Vietnam Rescued
Indonesia”. As a Vietnam Veteran, I wanted to hear this story, so I ordered the
DVD.
As Mr. Richardson tells it, Indonesia, one of the largest
nations in the world, and a nation that is located right in the middle of the
shipping channels of the Pacific Ocean, was to be the place where Communism would control a large portion of the Pacific. In the 1950’s Indonesia had three primary
political/social groups, Muslims, Communists, and Christians. All three of
these groups were relatively close in number, however the Communists were
growing rapidly through recruitment of large numbers of Muslims by enticements
and promises of great benefit as the Communist became stronger. The only people
in Indonesia who were allowed to have guns were the police and military, so the
Communist began a smuggling operation in the early 1960’s, receiving small
quantities of arms from Communist China, with whom they were aligned. The
promise of continued arms smuggling kept the Indonesian Communist actively recruiting
and their numbers continued to grow. However, The United States entered the war
in South Vietnam and this became a distraction to the Chinese, who were also
supplying arms to North Vietnam. As the fighting in Vietnam intensified China
quit sending arms to Indonesia, focusing all of their efforts on Vietnam. This
frustrated the Communists in Indonesia and they decided they needed to move
ahead with what they had. A plan was hatched and put into action in September,
1965 to assassinate all 9 military leaders on the same night. This would throw
the entire military into disarray and they were confident it would open the
door to a coup where they could take complete control of Indonesia. Their plan
almost worked. Seven of the nine leaders were assassinated. The surviving two
generals, working together, issued a proclamation that amnesty would be granted
to anyone who killed a communist. One can only imagine the results of this.
Many Muslims who had joined the Communist Party were not fully committed and
when the proclamation was issued they knew who the Communists were. A slaughter
began. Communism was stopped dead in its tracks in its spread through the
entire Pacific region.
Mr. Richardson, who was in Indonesia at the time, credits
the War in Vietnam with this result. If the arms flow had continued from China
to Indonesia the Communists in Indonesia would have continued to grow. But
because of the loss of the arms support, the local Communists acted prematurely
and their entire number were wiped out. After all of the dust settled, Mr. Richardson
was told by a military commander in Indonesia that when the Communist
headquarters was overrun, documents were discovered that included a list of all
Christian missionaries who were to be arrested and killed after the takeover.
His name was on the list.
He also tells of how the Christian community fared during
this time. Shelter was offered to Communists who were fleeing the rioters and
comfort was offered to Muslims who became disillusioned with all of the
killing. The Church in Indonesia actually grew as a result of this.
As a Vietnam Veteran, who saw so much sacrifice wasted and
thrown away, I find some solace in knowing that it was directly because of the
war in Vietnam that Communism was stopped in Indonesia, and the influence of
the Christian Church was expanded.
