This work-in-progress paper discusses the development of diasporic left-wing communities of Indonesian political exiles, who were unable to return safely to their homeland after the rise to power of the New Order of Major-General Suharto from 1 October 1965.

It explores the circumstances which shaped these exilic communities, and their changing relationships with both host and hostile governments, as they struggled to survive the Cold War’s thaw.

David T. Hill is Professor of Southeast Asian Studies, and Fellow of the Asia Research Centre at Murdoch University, Western Australia. He is the author of several books on Indonesian media, politics, literature, and culture, including The Internet in Indonesia's New Democracy and Media, Culture and Politics in Indonesia (both co-authored with Krishna Sen), The Press in New Order Indonesia, and Beyond the Horizon: Short Stories from Contemporary Indonesia.