Text your say: Gross human rights violations

Paper Edition | Page: 8

Your comments on the declaration by the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) that the 1965 massacre of members of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) was a gross human rights violation:

The massacre occurred in 1965 and is a dark chapter of Indonesian history. Let’s hope it doesn’t happen again on Indonesian soil and let’s get rid of feelings of hatred.

Indonesia should have done what Nelson Mandela did in South Africa.

Cucu Perwira
Purwakarta, West Java

So it is wrong for TNI to purge the communists (PKI members), who had rebelled ,but OK for the communists to kill all parties and people who were against the red tide. Should we call for an inquiry against PKI atrocities also?

P Maximus

The findings in this article ring true. Our film 40 Years of Silence: An Indonesian Tragedy, based on medical, historical and anthropological research, is a feature length documentary exploring the long-term effects of this tragedy on four Indonesian families who lost members to execution or imprisonment after the events of 1965.

For example, while one of the subjects in the film was a high ranking PKI member who was executed, the others had either little or no formal relationship with the communist party.

They either “disappeared”, or spent years in prison and exile. Their families suffered decades of stigmatization, isolation and exclusion because of their “unclean status” (tidak bersih lingkungan) and the film shows how the lingering effects of this tragedy reverberate among young people today.

We applaud the release of this report, and hope it is another step toward Indonesia accepting the past, and healing a traumatic chapter in it’s history.

Robert Lemelson

Komnas Ham should talk about current issues like the radical groups that are messing up in the country.

Slim

It was, of course, Soeharto who directly benefited from the purge. The result was the Orde Baru (New Order) and the increasing political and economic power and influence of the TNI with all its excesses, which received the support of the USA and most of the West.

The TNI remains the dominant economic and political force in the country, fueling corruption and fighting to keep the status quo.

The vast majority of those persecuted and hunted for decades were not communists; and even if they were, they were not given due process. The purge effectively restored TNI’s (ABRI) waning political influence, a position they have never relinquished.

Henry Manoe

First I think the title of the article says it all. The episode should never be forgotten, including Petrus (mysterious shootings) and all involved should be brought to court.

Secondly, the only fair and just thing to do for the victims families is to go after the money. The current President’s money was stole from the people, so it should be transferred directly to these families!

What we hear is that there are billions of USD that have been placed abroad.

Per A
Jakarta

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