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n connection with the G30S (the Sept. 30 Movement) in 1965,

I do not think anyone will get the true picture of what happened unless the kidnapping and murder of the six top generals of the Indonesian Army and the late General Nasution'€™s aide are also investigated.

I believe everybody in whatever camp, at the time, accepted the fact that the slaughter of the generals triggered this wave of mass killing and victimization of Communist Party members and sympathizers.

I think what Soebagio Soetaji (The Jakarta Post, Sept. 30) is saying should be taken into consideration. The country as a whole, having experienced a betrayal twice in history (1948 and 1965) by the Communist Party, was in a situation no one should ignore.

One also needs to review this in the context of the time and the condition of the country in 1965. Lastly, it needs to be analyzed within the context of the Cold War and what went on in the Killing Fields of Cambodia under Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge regime.

The talk of the domino effect of communism in Southeast Asia at the time was real and frightening, or indeed maybe very encouraging, depending who you were at that time and on which side of the fence you were standing. Almost everyone in Java was affected by the mass killings - families were torn apart, communities broken and friends became enemies. Suspicions were everywhere.

Would it be useful to look back and find out why and what was the truth? Most of us now see things differently and in a different perspective. For a start, we do not as a nation like or trust politicians ,as shown regularly in many polls. We think in terms of the country first, though we still do think of Muslims and non-Muslims for example, but when it comes to the national level what matters is what is good for all of Indonesia as a nation, not fractions of it.

Maybe it depends on what it is that we all want to know about the events related to the failure of the communist grab for power in 1965, after their perceived successful effort to become one of the most influential forces in Indonesia, a buildup of 10 years from the election of 1955 to their effort to take power in 1965.

The extraordinary kidnapping and slaughter of the six generals during the night of Sept. 30, 1965, to the start of the military onslaught on Oct. 1, 1965 led, to a million people becoming victims of mass murder afterward and the internment of those regarded as members and sympathizers of the Communist Party in the Buru Island of East Indonesia.

If it is to seek justice, we need to ask ourselves on whose terms. Will we succeed in whatever terms we seek? Then there is the question about what will we do with the result? Bring somebody to court? My respect goes to those who fell and suffered in the fight against communism in 1948 and 1965 and to those who were communists but also many who were just innocent bystanders, who were murdered and suffered during the horrifying purge of 1965.

Within the context of Indonesia as a nation they were all our brothers and sisters, and this we as Indonesians cannot forget.

Jaya Ibrahim
Jakarta