Will Indonesia's History Repeat Itself? Breaking the Silence Around 1965

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Will Indonesia's History Repeat Itself? Breaking the Silence Around 1965
Ronna Nirmala & Bayu Marhaenjati | October 01, 2012

The Museum of the Gen. Dr. A.H. Nasution sees an increase in visitors on Sept. 30, the anniversary of the killing of several army generals in 1965. (JG Photo/Afriadi HikmaIndonesia emerged from the chaos of the 1965 communist purge, and survived the turbulence of the 1998 reformation, but the two events showed that the country failed to be honest to its own history, activists and experts say.

Several experts suggest that it was only the tightly-held commitment to Pancasila as a national ideology that allowed the country to survive both of the historical ructions. Today is Pancasila Sanctity Day, on which the founding document in honored.

Syahganda Nainggolan of the Sabang-Merauke Circle said the country must renew its commitment to practice the principles enshrined in Pancasila — which include ethnic and religious tolerance as well as unity in diversity — because the nation's trust in the ideology saved the nation during the political chaos of 1965.

He said the commemoration of Pancasila as the nation's savior from division and collapse in 1965 and 1998 should prevent people from being swayed by other ideologies. "Pancasila has united us all so we must continue to stick with its principles," Syahganda said.

But many have expressed a lingering fear that the historical tragedies could repeat themselves unless the government steps up and admits the nation's past mistakes.

The power struggle between the military and the now-disbanded Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) peaked in the killing of several army generals on Sept. 30, 47 years ago.

The incident sparked the mass hunt of PKI members, resulting in the massacre of between 500,000 and two million people, and bringing in Suharto as the country's ruler while ending the reign of Sukarno.

The killings were followed by arbitrary arrests and imprisonment. During the New Order era, millions of the family members and relatives of alleged PKI members suffered discrimination, being denied jobs and education.

"We know now that many innocent people were killed and sent to prison without due legal process," said Aleksius Jemadu, dean of Pelita Harapan University's School of Social and Political Sciences, as the families of thousands of 1965 victims across the country commemorated the incident on Sunday.

The academic said that as a big nation, Indonesia should admit its past mistakes, express remorse and publicly apologize to the victims while reinstating the good names of the victims' families.

"Only then we can move on as a stronger nation without having to worry each year about the case," Aleksius said.

The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) announced in July that it has found evidence of widespread gross human rights violations nationwide during the purges.

The report, released after the issue was swept under the rug for nearly 50 years and based on a three-year investigation and the testimony of 349 witnesses, urged that military officers be brought to trial for crimes that include murder, slavery, forced evictions, torture and mass rape.

The report demanded that the government issue an apology and compensate victims and their families.

However, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has yet to follow the Komnas HAM recommendation, with many saying that he is facing fierce resistance from retired military commanders, lawmakers from Suharto's Golkar Party and several members of Nahdlatul Ulama, the nation's largest Islamic organization.

Many members of these institutions were accused of taking part in the massacre.

Hesti Armiwulan, a Komnas HAM official, said the Attorney General's Office has yet to respond with an investigation into the commission's recommendations.

She said the AGO was hiding behind the excuse that it cannot investigate before the House of Representatives establishes a tribunal.

But many people said that a political struggle at the House will prevent the establishment of the tribunal.

"We have finished our task, and we have concluded that there were gross human rights violations in the incident. Now it's up to the AGO to follow up on our findings," Hesti said.

Haris Azhar of the Commission on Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) said the president must act to give justice to the victims.

"The president could make a political decision to solve the problem. Hundreds of thousands of victims are still waiting to have their dignity and good names back," he said.

Aleksius, however, warned that history repeated itself in the 1998 incident because the nation failed to learn from the 1965 massacre. Heavy human rights violations were committed during 1998, with many people being kidnapped, killed and raped in the chaos that brought down Suharto.

So far, nobody has been held accountable for those human rights violations. "We don't want similar incidents to happen again," Aleksius said. "We should end the impunity that plagues the country."