The United States government had intimate knowledge of the Indonesian army's bloody anti-communist purge in the 1960s, describing the mass killings as a "widespread slaughter", newly declassified documents have revealed.The 39 recently declassified US Embassy documents cover the period from 1964-1968, at the peak of the Cold War, and uncover new details about one of the most tumultuous periods in modern Indonesian history.Historians say up to 500,000 alleged Indonesian Communis

The communist party chief of one of Vietnam's largest cities was fired Friday for violating party rules, the government said, part of the country's massive anti-corruption sweep targeting political heavyweights and executives.Dozens of bankers, businessmen and current and former officials have been toppled in recent months as the notoriously corrupt one-party state vows to punish wrongdoing and polish its public image.Analysts say the campaign is about political infighting as much a

Two decades since its independence, Indonesia experienced one of its darkest chapters of the nation’s 72-year history. While some justified it as an act of nationalism, many others are still haunted by the memory till today.In 1965, Indonesian politics headed down a much darker path. Led by Kusno Sosrodihardjo – better known as Sukarno – Indonesia’s first appointed president, the government was infiltrated by communists and their sympathisers.