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espite reluctance to address the 1965 tragedy that is thought to have claimed thousands of lives, the government is set to safeguard the first state-sponsored symposium on the controversial subject. The event will include the thorough examination of the mass killing of Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) members and sympathizers that followed the ousting of first president Sukarno.

The symposium, that starts on Monday, will bring victims, government officials and academics together to look through the country’s dark history from various angles in an effort to find comprehensive solutions to the prolonged, unresolved cases of gross human-rights violations that occurred between late 1965 and early 1966. The leader of the symposium, Let. Gen. (ret) Agus Widjojo, who was recently inaugurated as National Resilience Institute (Lemhanas) governor, is confident that the event will run safely according to plan despite protests from hard-line groups opposed to the initiative.

“We already have the police in charge of security since we know that this is a sensitive issue. We have also collaborated with the office of the coordinating political, legal and security affairs minister, which will certainly help. I’m upbeat that it will run safely,” Agus told The Jakarta Post over the weekend.

Similar confidence was also shown by National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti, who was optimistic that his personnel would successfully secure the two-day event. “We are prepared [...] the Jakarta Police will be in charge.”

The decision to set up the symposium resulted from months of meetings by a government reconciliation team set up to search for the best pathway, which officials have dubbed “the Indonesian way”, for dealing with the 1965 massacre, as well as other cases of gross rights abuses.

Led by Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan, the reconciliation team involves the Law and Human Rights Ministry, the Attorney General’s Office and the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM).

Under the supervision of the Presidential Advisory Board (Wantimpres), the team has been organizing meetings and discussions with various stakeholders, from human-rights campaigners and academics to individuals who have suffered themselves.

Although it is the first gathering officially sponsored by the government, it is not the first attempt to publicly discuss the matter. Various groups have initiated gatherings aimed at recalling and reviewing the 1965 incident, but many of them were forcibly cancelled due to pressure from radical groups that use the Pancasila to defend their actions.

One such incident was the recent forced dissolution of a meeting for survivors of the mass murder, mostly people over 60 years old, organized by the 1965 Murder Victims’ Research Foundation (YPKP 65) in Cipanas, West Java. Pressure from hundreds of Islam Defenders Front (FPI) members and the youth organization Pemuda Pancasila forced the event to stop.

Prior to that, the FPI and like-minded groups had insisted on shutting down many meetings and art performances seen as encouraging the rise of communism.

On Saturday, anti-PKI hard-liner, Front Pancasila, threatened to deploy followers to Hotel Aryaduta, the symposium venue, in an attempt to stop it from happening over a suspicion that it aims to lawfully reinstate the PKI.

The organization spokesperson Alfian Tanjung claimed that 90 percent of the gathering’s 200 invitees were affiliated with the once largest political party in the country.

No matter what, Lemhanas governor Agus, whose father, Gen. Sutoyo Siswomiharjo was killed during the initial Sept. 30 attack in 1965, rebutted such suggestions. “How can they move past that opinion if they refuse to discuss it together? It’s time for us to leave stereotyping behind.”

The scheduled symposium has immediately attracted enthusiasm from survivors and rights campaigners who are looking forward to the results of the event.

Activist Bedjo Untung, himself a victim, said that 17 survivors from the 1965 Murder Victims’ Research Foundation would attend the discussion. “We are happy as this is the first national discussion where we have the chance to speak for ourselves”.

The event is expected to result in recommendations being made to President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo who is scheduled to make an official announcement next month regarding the government’s stance on the reconciliation process.
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