JAKARTA — General Chair of the Indonesian Student Youth Association (IPPI), Robby Sumolang, told of his life experiences when he was arrested by the authorities in 1967 and then served a period of political detention until he was released in 1978.
In his statement to VOC News Rendy Wolayan who interviewed him, on Tuesday, (30/9/2026) in one of the areas in North Jakarta, , Robby Sumolang revealed that his arrest occurred after he changed his residence in Jakarta.
At that time, he said he had lived in the Jalan Gajah Mada area before moving because the house contract ended.
“It was true that I was arrested in Jakarta because I moved from place to place. At that time the house contract expired so I had to move. Apparently the authorities noticed the move and finally I was arrested,” said Robby Sumolang.
According to Robby Sumolang, he was arrested by officers from Kodam Jaya. He named a member with the rank of corporal named Acep as one of the officers who carried out the arrest according to information from the Independent Nusantara Newspaper dated 19 May 1967.
After being arrested, Robby Sumolang admitted that he was taken and detained at the Jaya Regional Military Command before being transferred to Salemba detention, Jakarta. He said that Blok M Salemba at that time was a place where a number of political prisoners were held. “There were various political prisoners there, including people related to the 1965 events,” he said.
Robby then revealed that he and a number of other prisoners were finally sent to Buru Island. He said his detention period lasted until 1978.
While on Buru Island, Robby admitted that he was trusted to help distribute food needs to fellow prisoners, such as rice. This trust, according to him, is partly due to his good relationship with one of the guards who came from Manado.
Robby Sumolang denies IPPI is under the PKI. In his experience, IPPI is not a subordinate organization to the PKI. He admitted that he joined the organization in the context of youth and student struggles as well as political experience that had developed since the regional upheavals in the late 1950s and had led youth and students since 1961. Since then, Bung Karno has often called and discussed with him about the struggles of Indonesian student youth. which encouraged him to participate in defending the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia.
According to Robby, IPPI has been established and engaged in the struggle for independence since the early days of the Republic of Indonesia in 1945. He said that the organization had a large number of members and had a network of around 300,000 people. According to his knowledge, IPPI was taken to Buru Island as a political prisoner along with 15,000 other people.
Robby testified that he was once close to Bung Karno and Robby also talked about his relationship with student activists at the direction of President Soekarno. According to him, during Soekarno’s reign, student organization leaders often had the opportunity to discuss with President Soekarno and even go to school and study abroad.
He recalled an incident when he attended and chaired the IPPI Congress in 1964 at GBK. At that time, according to Robby Sumolang, President Soekarno was present and gave a speech.
Robby admitted that Soekarno called him to the podium after delivering his speech. On this occasion, Soekarno is said to have exchanged his peci for the head covering that Robby was wearing.
“Bung Karno took my peci and then put it on him. On the other hand, Bung Karno’s peci was put on me,” said Robby.
According to him, documentation in the form of photos of this incident is still kept today.
Robby said he was trusted to become the General Chair of IPPI in 1964 when he was around 23 years old.
Relationships with Other Organizations,
Regarding relationships IPPI and organizations affiliated with the PKI, Robby said that the relationship that occurred at that time was more in the form of social relations between institutions.
“The relationship was more about friendship. They knew each other because they were the same.organization. “But each of them acted according to the orders of their organization,” he said.
He considered that the labeling of IPPI as an affiliate of the PKI needed to be seen in the political context of that time.
Robby said that he and a number of IPPI members later became victims of the political situation after the change in power.
“Many political prisoners at that time actually did not know about the problems they were accused of. “They became victims of politics,” he said.
Breathing Freedom in 1978
After about a decade of serving in prison, Robby said he was released from Buru Island in 1978.
After his release, he admitted that he continued to carry out various social activities. One of them was visiting political prisoners who were still in prison.
He said he had received information about a priest named Rebecca who was detained in Indramayu. Robby Sumolang then tried to visit her.
According to Robby Sumolang, this experience shows that after being released from Buru Island, he still felt called to help people who were still serving a period of detention.
Rebuttal to Accusations of Violence
Robby also emphasized that he had never committed murder or tortured political opponents during times of political upheaval.
“I have never committed murder. We are not soldiers. “We are ordinary people,” he stressed.
He said that he and other IPPI members were more involved in youth and student activities.
Robby Sumolang’s story is part of the historical testimony regarding the experiences of political prisoners in the period of Indonesian political change in the 1960s to the end of the 1970s.
A number of historical claims made in the interview, including the number of organizational members, the status of IPPI’s relationship with certain political organizations, as well as the chronology of detention, still require checking with archives and independent historical sources. to get a more complete picture.