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Government paves way to atone for 1965 atrocities

Jakarta Post - September 1, 2015

House opposes apology for 1965 purge – Jakarta Post. August 22, 2015
Defense minister Ryacudu says no need to apologies to PKI families – Merdeka. August 19, 2015
Government mulls apology for anti-communist purge – Jakarta Post. August 19, 2015
Hammer-and-sickle flags burnt in protests over news of PKI apology – Merdeka. August 15, 2015
FPI meets with Jakarta military commander to discuss PKI communist threat – Peka News. August 14, 2015

Margareth S. Aritonang and Haeril Halim, Jakarta – The government is preparing a comprehensive mechanism to reconcile with all victims of gross human rights violations, including those who suffered from the 1965 anti communist purge. The process is expected to gradually restore the rights of victims and their families.

A government team set up to resolve long-abandoned cases of human rights abuse is assessing two possible alternatives. First, to express an official form of regret for the brutality inflicted upon victims, or second, to declare an official state apology to all the victims of past human rights abuse.

"We are still discussing which of these two options to take, whether to express an official apology or something more akin to regret," Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna H. Laoly said on Monday.

Yasonna said the ongoing discussion surrounding this subject involved his office and other related state institutions such as the office of the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister, the Attorney General's Office, the National Police, the Indonesian Military (TNI), the National Intelligence Agency and the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).

All these institutions plan to formally admit the reality of severe rights violations imposed on Indonesians by the state during dark periods in the country's history.

The Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) plans to emphasize the brutal abuse inflicted on Indonesians during the 1965 anti communist purge.

"Whichever of the options is taken, it will highlight the abuse. If the state apologizes, it will be for all of the violations committed by the state on innocent Indonesians [during the 1965 communist purge], and not for violations against the PKI [Indonesian Communist Party]," Yasonna said.

He repeatedly reiterated this statement in an apparent move to clarify a misunderstanding circulating among the public that the government planned to direct its apology to the now defunct PKI. "Why would we apologize to the PKI? No one will do that."

However, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan, who was also present at the press briefing, personally rejected plans by the government to apologize to people who suffered as a result of the purge. "We haven't thought about it," he told reporters.

President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said in a speech to commemorate the country's 70th anniversary that the government was preparing a national reconciliation process so that the nation could come to terms with past human rights tragedies.

The ongoing reconciliation process will also likely confront the bloody 1989 Talangsari tragedy in Central Lampung, the 2001 and 2003 killings of villagers in Wamena and Wasior in Papua, various acts of forced disappearance, unresolved mysterious shootings in the 1980s and the violence that occurred during the 1998 May riots.

Many have applauded the ongoing process and hope that it will help the country move forward. "Making peace with our dark past will help us, as a nation, confidently aspire for a better future," said historian and Catholic priest Baskara T. Wardaya from Sanata Dharma University in Yogyakarta.

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/09/01/govt-paves-way-atone-1965-atrocities.html.