THE HAGUE: An Indonesian news agency message reported today [Aug 12] that hundreds of people have been arrested throughout East Sumatra and that tanks and armoured cars are patrolling the town of Medan. The agency added that ... the action was believed to be directed against revolutionaries… . Police and military were stationed at all street corners in Medan at dawn ... and everybody was turned back including high Government officials and army officers unless on a special assignment, the agency said. Doctors, public health and radio personnel were exempted.

Railway, telegraph and telephone services stopped completely. Requisitioned motor buses full of the arrested persons roared through the streets. Radio Medan broadcast an order by the local military commander telling everybody to stay indoors “until the operation is finished.” … [A news] agency added that … the supreme element of the action had been weakened by newspaper reports ... which forecast large scale arrests. “In this way some of the most dangerous elements managed to elude the net,” the agency stated.

Published in Dawn, August 13th, 2026