Kusuma Wijaya was born on 22 March 1972 in Surabaya. We had been friends on Facebook for a few years before I started interviewing him. Kusuma is now a lecturer in English literature at Dr. Soetomo University in Surabaya. In September 2013, we met for the first time in Surabaya. I also knew Kusuma's best friend, Bagus Hariyono Kohar, who is a lecturer at the same university. Both Bagus Hariyono and Kusuma Wijaya are known as the ‘red’ lecturers of the university.

Bagus Hariyono told me that he only found out about Kusuma Wijaya's grandfather recently, after Kusuma had revealed his story to me. Bagus Haryono said that this explained why his best friend, Kusuma, was a leftist and why he knew a lot about Marxism and other Marxist theories, which is rare for Indonesians. Here is Kusuma's story.

One evening in 1986, when I was still in the third year of junior high school, I came home, after watching the movie Pengkhianatan G30S/PKI [The treason of G30S/PKI] with my schoolmates. I told my father about it and asked him further about the cruelty of the Indonesian Communist Party [PKI] that was portrayed as evil and brutal in the film.

I did not expect that my question would trigger the revelation of my family's big secret: the identity of my grandfather. ‘The man you’ve believed to be your grandfather is not actually your kakek [grandfather],’ my dad said. ‘Your grandpa is not Sumo Salikin but Kasmadi, and he died years ago. Sumo Salikin is just a good friend of your grandpa.’

Kasmadi, whose name I heard for the very first time then, was an elementary school principal in Gorang Gareng, a village on the border of Magetan and Madiun in East Java. As a teacher he joined PGRI [Persatuan Guru Republik Indonesia, or the Indonesia Teachers Association], as all teachers were required to participate in this organisation. In 1965, PGRI split into two groups, PGRI NV (Non Vaksentral), which was linked to the PKI, and PGRI V (Vaksentra), which was non-communist. PGRI NV was more vocal in seeking the improvement of conditions for teachers as a group, and they also expressed loyalty to Sukarno. My grandfather was a member of PGRI NV.