Leader(s) Yapto Soerjosoemarno Active region(s) Indonesia | Dates of operation 1965- | |
Ideology Anti-communism
Pancasila Major actions Beheadings, Tortures, Rapes Notable attacks Indonesian killings of 1965–66
Maluku sectarian conflict | ||
The Pancasila Youth (Indonesian: Pemuda Pancasila, PP) is an Indonesian paramilitary organization established by General Abdul Haris Nasution on 28 October 1959 as the youth wing of the League of Supporters of Indonesian Independence. It has been headed since 1981 by Yapto Soerjosoemarno. and was one of the semi-official political gangsters (preman) groupings that supported the New Order military dictatorship of Suharto. The name refers to Pancasila, the official "five principles" of the Indonesian state. Pancasila Youth played an important role in supporting Suharto's military coup in 1965: they ran death squads for the Indonesian army, killing a million or more alleged communists and Chinese Indonesians across the province of North Sumatra, as described in the 2012 documentary The Act of Killing.
In the documentary, it is stated that the organisation currently has three million members. National membership estimates from the late 1990s ranged from four to ten million people.