Sukarno was again talking about the unity of Marxism, Islam, and nationalism, and repackaged it into one of his trademark acronyms—NASAKOM, for Nasionalisme, Agama (Religion), and Komunisme. He talked of forming a NASAKOM cabinet, but the right wing of Indonesian politics blocked the Communists.3 General Nasution, head of the Armed Forces and point man for Washington, told Ambassador Howard Jones in 1960 that the military would never allow the PKI to participate at the executive level of government.4 In reality the three political forces in the country were not nationalism, religion, and
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