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National scene: Police raid workshop on 1965 purge
A workshop held by the International People’s Tribunal 1965 (IPT65) to discuss possible compensation for victims of the 1965 communist purge was shut down by local police in Klender, East Jakarta, on Tuesday
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workshop held by the International People’s Tribunal 1965 (IPT65) to discuss possible compensation for victims of the 1965 communist purge was shut down by local police in Klender, East Jakarta, on Tuesday.
Security personnel from the police and the District Military Command (Koramil) raided the location hours before the program started.
A IPT65 committee member, Dianto Bachriadi, said the police forced the organizers to cancel the program on the pretext they did not have a permit. Members who attended the meeting were interrogated and intimidated, he said.
“[The raid] was a setback for democracy and human rights in the country,” Dianto said.
The workshop was moved to the Jakarta Legal Aid Institute (LBH Jakarta) office in Central Jakarta.
LBH Jakarta lawyer Pratiwi Febby criticized the authorities’ actions, saying that ITP65 did not need a permit to hold a workshop.
East Jakarta Police Chief Sr. Comm. Andy Wibowo said that he had received reports that the program was linked to the defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).
“If it was a PKI event then it had to be dispersed,” he said, adding that communism was still legally banned in Indonesia.
