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ETAN supports Senate Resolution on 50th Anniversary of 1965 Mass Violence in Indonesia
East Timor and Indonesia Action Network Statement - October 1, 2015
The resolution, introduced on October 1, the 50th anniversary of the beginning of the massacres that took up to a million lives, "condemns the mass murder" and "expresses great concern about the lack of accountability enjoyed by those who carried out crimes during this period." It urges Indonesia to create "a truth, justice, and reconciliation commission to address alleged crimes against humanity and other human rights violations.
For too long, impunity has allowed many of the perpetrators to prosper, while survivors and the families of the victims continue to suffer.
"The peoples of the US and Indonesia deserve to know the full truth about these events. The US must declassify and release all files related to Suharto's US-backed seizure of power and the horrific events which followed," said Chris Lundry of ETAN.
"The US assisted and praised these events," said John M. Miller, Coordinator of ETAN. "Those in the West who encouraged the mass violence in Indonesia should be held accountable. For too long, impunity has allowed many of the perpetrators to prosper, while survivors and the families of the victims continue to suffer," he added.
The resolution singles out the Department of State, the Department of Defense, and the Central Intelligence Agency as "involved in developing and implementing policy towards Indonesia" at that time. And calls for them "to locate, identify, inventory, recommend for declassification, and make available to the public all classified records and documents concerning the mass killings of 1965 and 1966, including records and documents pertaining to covert operations in Indonesia from January 1, 1964 through March 30, 1966."
ETAN's petition urging the US government to acknowledge its role in mass violence in Indonesia and release all its records concerning the 1965/66 killings has more than 2250 signatures
Background
The massacre of between 500,000 and 1,000,000 (and possibly more) communists, leftists, ethnic Chinese, and others in Indonesia in 1965-1966 is a foundational event in modern Indonesian political history. These massacres brought the brutal Indonesian dictator Suharto to power. His three-decade dictatorship was backed by the US, which provided weapons, military training and political support. Recent documentaries, including The Act of Killing and The Look of Silence, have fueled a debate within Indonesia and drawn attention internationally to events kept out of many US history books. Events that the US facilitated and cheered at the time.
The list of human rights violations during Suharto's New Order is lengthy, including the mysterious shootings incidents of the early 1980s, the 1984 Tanjung Priok massacre, and the persecution and killings in West Papua and Aceh. Among the most egregious was the 1975 invasion of former Portuguese colony and newly-declared independent state Timor-Leste (East Timor), where up to one-third of the population died in the years following the illegal invasion.
Throughout all of these human rights disasters, the United States remained firmly on Suharto's side, pledging financial and political support, encouraging investment, and providing military aid and training, at times contrary to the wishes of the US Congress and in violation of US law.
Contact: John M. Miller, +1-917-690-4391 john@etan.org
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