Little known result of the Vietnam War

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.