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Activists refuse to forget as reform era fades
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Sumarsih (center), an activist from the Victims Solidarity Network for Justice (JSKK), joins fellow demonstrators in the 861st Kamisan protest in front of the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta on May 15, 2025. (Antara/Fathul Habib Sholeh)
A
s Indonesia’s reform era appears to be nearing its end under President Prabowo Subianto, signaled by the resurgence of authoritarian traits such as a growing military presence in civilian affairs, pro-democracy activists continue their efforts to pass on the memory of the nation’s dark past to younger generations.
Speaking to The Jakarta Post during the most recent Kamisan protest, a weekly silent demonstration demanding justice for past human rights abuses, activist Maria Catarina Sumarsih voiced her deep distrust of Prabowo, whom she considers a product of Soeharto's New Order regime. Soeharto’s 32-year rule ended on May 21, 1998, marking the birth of the Reform era.
Prabowo, a former Army general and son-in-law of Soeharto, was accused of orchestrating the abduction of pro-democracy activists between 1997 and 1998 as chief of the Army’s Special Forces (Kopassus). To this day, thirteen of those abducted remain missing.
He has also been implicated by the United Nations in the 1983 Krakas massacre in East Timor, a deadly military operation during Indonesia’s occupation of the region, which he denies.
Initiated in 2007, Kamisan previously sent regular letters to the ruling president demanding accountability for gross human rights violations, especially those committed during the New Order. But the activists stopped this tradition at the end of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s second term last year.
Read also: Reform era draws to a close
“That was our stance. We no longer had hope in Prabowo, a gross human rights violator himself,” Sumarsih said in front of the Merdeka Palace in Jakarta last Thursday.
