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US must open its archives on 1965-66 massacre: Human Rights Watch
Jakarta Globe - April 13, 2016
A military-backed purge against Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) members and its sympathizers in 1965-66 killed between 500,000 to one million suspected communists and paved the way for the rise of former President Suharto's New Order regime.
Since taking office in 2014, President Joko Widodo has not taken any significant steps to address the complex repercussions of the massacre. He only formed a committee to seek a reconciliation, instead of bringing to justice those responsible for what has been described as the worst mass killings in the 20th century.
With the Attorney General's Office seemingly reluctant to take the case to court, the Indonesian Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM) sent a letter to US President Barack Obama last month, requesting the White House to disclose confidential documents on the 1965-66 massacre.
HRW director Kenneth Roth said Obama would likely disclose the documents had the request been made by Joko himself.
"Komnas HAM has made that request – and it's very important – but still the Indonesian government needs to add its voice for the US government to open the archives," Roth told a press conference in Jakarta.
The archives may not determine the whole justice process in Indonesia, but Roth is convinced they could contribute a lot to the Indonesian government's effort to seek the truth behind the massacre.
"This is not [due to] international or foreign demand; this is [what] Indonesians [desire]. A deep desire to address the terrible crimes is shown passionately and urgently by many Indonesians [..] obviously [by] the survivors, the families, and many ordinary Indonesians," Roth added.
He said it was hugely important to seek the truth as a reconciliation process cannot be built on the basis of censored historical record.
"Seeking justice is difficult, because the perpetrators are old men now. But the truth is not difficult. You can get the truth now," Roth said. "The question now is [...] what's the Indonesian government's position in respect to the truth? If they want it, then ask Obama."
During his visit to Jakarta, the HRW director met several senior Indonesian officials to discuss options to gain access to the US archives, including Presidential Chief of Staff Teten Masduki and Presidential Advisory Board member Sidarto Danusubroto. No official response has been issued.
HRW researcher for Indonesia Andreas Harsono believes Obama and Joko have discussed the idea of opening the US archives during a bilateral meeting in California in February.
"I was told by two different parties – that President Jokowi and President Obama talked about it in Sunnylands," Andreas said, referring to the Indonesian president by his popular nickname.
Until today, it is still a difficult task to discuss the events of 1965-66 in Indonesia from the perspective of the victims and their relatives, or to question the official version of what happened, which presents the purge as having been necessary to prevent a communist takeover.
Many Indonesians still do not know that many innocent lives were lost in the crackdown, with survivors jailed, tortured, subjected to forced labor, treated inhumanely without trial, as well as enduring discrimination long after they were released.
Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/us-must-open-archives-1965-66-massacre-human-rights-watch/.
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