By Papang Hidayat
By sweeping its dark past under the carpet, Indonesia risks sowing the seeds of resentment.
Fifty years ago this week, one of the worst mass murders in Indonesia’s history got underway. On the evening of September 30, 1965 six military generals were killed as part of an alleged leftist uprising, providing Major General Suharto with the pretext to seize power and launch a nationwide “purge” of alleged communists and their sympathizers.
What followed was an unspeakably dark period in Indonesian history. Over the next two years, the Indonesian security forces and their proxy death squads unleashed a wave of terror targeting members of the communist party, trade unionists, academics, students, or anyone with suspected left-wing ties.
Anywhere between 500,000 and one million people were killed. Sexual violence was rampant with countless women raped or kept as sexual slaves. Hundreds of thousands of people were imprisoned without trial – many spent years in jail, suffering regular torture and forced labor. The killings marked the start of Suharto’s oppressive 32-year tenure as president, during which he ruled Indonesia through a military dominated government willing to use violence to carry out its will.
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