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ct. 25, p2

The Herb Feith Foundation, which sponsored events at the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival (UWRF) that had to be canceled after pressure was exerted by the authorities, has expressed its disappointment.

The foundation is '€œshocked and disappointed'€ at the cancellation four days before its program was due to commence, it said.

'€œIndonesian voices on 1965-1966 have again been silenced,'€ it said in a media release. '€œWe have lost an opportunity to hear contributions from key Indonesians and writers and researchers toward a better understanding and reflection on this traumatic history.'€

The foundation, named after the famous Australian Indonesianist, sponsored three discussion panels, a photo exhibition and the launch of four books.

Three of the books are translations from Indonesian, namely Forbidden Memories: Women'€™s Experiences of 1965 in Eastern Indonesia, edited by Mery Kolimon, Liliya Wetangterah and Karen Campbell-Nelson; Breaking the Silence: Survivors Speak about 1965'€“66 Violence in Indonesia, edited by Putu Oka Sukanta; Truth Will Out: Indonesian Accounts of the 1965 Mass Violence, edited by Dr. Baskara T. Wardaya SJ.

One Indonesian book, G30S dan Kejahatan Negara (G30S and State Violence), written by Siauw Giok Tjhan, would have also been showcased.

Also canceled was the screening of US director Joshua Oppenheimer'€™s The Look of Silence.

The cancelation received a great deal of media attention in Australia on Friday and Saturday.

Your comments:

Practically nobody is a communist anymore in Indonesia. It'€™s a dead ideology anyway, since anywhere you look at the world today there are signs of failed societies run by sinister governmental agencies. So the people should just move on with life, because ideologies like these are already totally irrelevant, and focus instead on learning how to make money, on how to improve your lives, on contributing to society and fulfilling your social role, as well as on having a good life and enjoying your hard-earned wealth and luxury. And if one can afford it, they could share it all with the less fortunate.

People who are descendants of Indonesian Communist Party members are Indonesian nationals first and foremost. They should look beyond their selfish desires for recognition and stop being attention-getters and look for the benefits for the entire Indonesian society.

The solution to this '€œproblem'€ is simple. It'€™s the concept of acceptance, especially that of the inevitable. The more you try to change things, the more they do not change. By letting go of the need to control and influence things directly, you can free yourself of the anxiety and the worry. So, let go of it all. Accept things as they are, things just happen but are entirely irrelevant to our life circumstances nowadays. It'€™s like asking descendants from a millennia in the future to be responsible for their ancestor'€™s pickpocketing. It'€™s been 50 years and that span of time could fill two or three lifetimes, from a person'€™s child to their child.

Just accept it and stop being a denier. Be more optimistic, know your place in life and what you can do about a situation. For such '€œvictims'€, I suggest you learn to stop asking for pity and stop being so egocentric, let alone asking for reparation. Who knows what values such stoicism might one day come to? It is a virtue to endure, especially in silence. Indonesia could use more people who endure secretly while advancing the interests of the country and her people.

Ray

If the leadership really wants to do the right thing, the materials, many firsthand sources, surrounding the 1965 tragedy are adequate. To these, one should add the Nation Commission on Human Rights'€™ (Komnas HAM) 850-page report presented to the Attorney General'€™s Office in 2012. Or the tons of contemporary field dispatches from foreign journalists for Reuters, etc. For a lighter personal read, consider Christopher Koch'€™s novel The Year of Living Dangerously '€” made into award-winning film of same name, directed by Peter Wier.

Wandering Star

Another great example of the effects of propaganda and compulsory self-delusion on a society. Events in a simple writers festival canceled because this country refuses to know what it truly is; what happened in its past and why.

'€œHe who loveth correction loveth knowledge.'€ Indonesian authorities, it would seem, loveth neither.

L. Millar

There is definitely an attempt by Western powers to revive old wounds in Indonesia and divide its population.

Warrior

An old wound is still a wound. Tend to it or let it fester further. Denial of the truth helps nothing and nothing moves forward.

Nate

If these old wounds are brought to light it will also bring some shame on the West. So, I guess you want the West protected by all this. You don'€™t even know whose side you'€™re on.

Simaging