APSN | Indonesia has 'no intention' of issuing apology: Joko on 1965 massacre

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Indonesia has 'no intention' of issuing apology: Joko on 1965 massacre

Jakarta Globe - October 1, 2015

President Widodo hopes G30S/PKI communist rebellion won't happen again – Kompas.com - October 1, 2015
Tribunal a necessity for truth and reconciliation – Jakarta Post. October 1, 2015
Search for truth continues 50 years after Indonesia's purge – Eureka Street. September 30, 2015
It's 50 years since the Indonesian massacre of 1965 but we cannot look away – The Guardian. September 30, 2015
Mystery of Indonesia's coup continues – New Mandala. September 30, 2015

Jakarta – President Joko Widodo confirmed that Indonesia will not issue an apology for its role in what has been described as one of the worst mass killings of the twentieth century, as the nation commemorates the horrific events that occurred 50 years ago today.

Speaking to guests after leading the Pancasila Efficacy Day ceremony at the eponymous monument in East Jakarta on Thursday morning, Joko reminded the nation not to let history repeats itself.

"We must be vigilant; don't lose our guard and let the incident happen again," he told reporters. It is unclear whether Joko was referring to the killing of several top military officers in 1965, or the ensuing bloody military crackdown that killed between 500,000 and one million people.

Pancasila Efficacy Day (not to be confused with Pancasila Day, which falls on June 1) marks the Indonesian Army's success in restoring order after what the Armed Forces (Abri, now the Indonesian Military or TNI) has always maintained was an attempted coup against then-president Sukarno by the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) on Sept. 30, 1965. Six Army generals and a captain were killed in the incident.

The ensuing anti-communist crackdown in various parts of the country played no role whatsoever in the Pancasila Efficacy Day ceremony, which was introduced by the late president Suharto who led the bloody crackdown as an army general.

Joko, who took office in 2014 with high public hopes that he would address past human rights cases, has formed a committee to seek reconciliation for gross human rights violations involving the military. Activists suspect the move is merely an attempt to settle the matter out of court and retain impunity for perpetrators, many of whom remain in powerful positions and even part of the president's inner circle.

But even an acknowledgment that crimes against humanity have been committed 50 years ago proved too much for several political elites and groups.

Nahdlatul Ulama and Muhammadiyah, two of the biggest Islamic groups in Indonesia, have denounced attempts to apologize for the massacre, as have politicians from former president Suharto's Golkar Party and officials from the PPAD, the military's biggest veterans' association.

Joko confirmed that the government had "no intention to issue an apology" for the mass killings "at this point."

But Justice and Human Rights Minister Yasonna Laoly said on Wednesday that although the government refuses to apologize to the PKI, it is ready to acknowledge that many innocent lives were lost in the crackdown, including teachers, writers, labor unionists, women activists and artists.

The crackdown also saw at least one million people imprisoned for years without trial and upon release endure harassment, discrimination and stigma that also extend to their children and grandchildren.

Much of what happened in 1965 is still shrouded in mystery. For most Indonesians, their recollection of what happened was the official account and propaganda launched by Suharto's 32-year rule, describing the PKI as "bahaya laten" or an "undying threat" to the nation that could resurface at anytime.

The most prominent of these propaganda materials is the film "Pengkhianatan G30 S PKI" ("Treachery of the PKI's September 30 Movement"), which has been criticized as one-sided, misogynistic and highly inaccurate. During Suharto's rule, students were obliged to watch the film on the anniversary of the attempted coup.

Challenging the official account has been met with resistance. Several discussions on 1965 as well as public viewings of the acclaimed documentaries "The Act of Killing" and "The Look of Silence" by filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer have been barred and forcibly disbanded by police and military.

The Muhammadiyah is one of the groups looking to maintain Suharto's version of what happened by organizing public viewings of "Pengkhianatan G 30 S PKI," which was no longer made compulsory since Suharto was toppled in 1998.

News portal Detik.com reported that Muhammadiyah organized one such viewings in Menteng, Central Jakarta, which were also attended by several retired military generals, including former Army Special Forces Commander Muchdi Purwoprandjono.

"We are organizing the viewings so that we will not forget our own history," said Muchdi, who was once accused of orchestrating the assassination of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib. The allegations were never proven and Muchdi never charged.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/indonesia-no-intention-issuing-apology-joko-1965-massacre/.