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View all search resultsThe monk who shattered denials over state-sponsored rapes, killings
The impunity of the 1998 criminals is the overarching feature of almost all state-sponsored violence in Indonesia’s past and recent history.
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Human rights activist and Kamisan (Thursday) silent protest initiator Maria Catarina Sumarsih (center) stands under an umbrella during a rally outside the State Palace in Jakarta on Dec. 4, 2025. During the 889th edition of Kamisan, activists demanded several points, including stopping the criminalization of human rights defenders and fair resolution of past gross human rights violations. (Antara/Aditya Pradana Putra)
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he Buddhist monk in the courtroom historically defied decades of denial of state-sponsored violence, including the sexual torture and murder of women. The criminals and masterminds of the May 1998 riots remain free while survivors, mainly Chinese-Indonesians, still hesitate to step out beyond their closest circles.
The bikhuni (female monk) Suhu Shien, today’s formal name of Wiwin Suryadinata, testified about the rape and murder of her daughter following the May 1998 riots. Ita Martadinata, 17, was found dead in her room on Oct. 9, 1998. Forensic results had revealed wounds from repeated rape.
“Kill, kill, kill!” Wiwin exclaimed before the court. “[All victims] had families. What of the mothers who bore them, like myself, the fathers who raised them? Not only do I represent my child, but all [such] children in Indonesia; I represent the mothers whose children were killed.”
Her advocates say Ita was intimidated, deliberately prevented and punished for planning to address the United Nations in New York on the mass rapes, as one of a few volunteers assisting the victims. I attended Ita’s cremation, recalling only the sense of acute pain and unfathomable loss in the air.
The monk had agreed to testify in early February for the Civil Society Coalition Against Impunity. Its members are suing Culture Minister Fadli Zon, who has echoed the government’s doubts and denials about the “rumors” of the mass rapes in several towns in 1998.
The official fact-finding team on the riots had concluded that “deliberation” led to the riots. It reported “hundreds of sexual violence victims” before and after May 1998, cases “which were linked” to those during the riots. Almost all sexual crimes during the riots were “gang rape” in clear view of others.
In one stroke, Ita’s mother had not only ended her own silent trauma in public. Wiwin's testimony has loudly asserted the dignity of victims of all sexual assaults, dead or alive, in contrast with conventions that dump the girls and women as worthless, and worse. The National Commission for Violence against Women (Komnas Perempuan) cited one survivor who said her husband stopped speaking to her and disavowed her as his wife. The stigma against such victims has perpetuated denials of their torture and murder; not a single individual has been prosecuted for the crimes of May 1998.
