Indonesian Jesuit: Jakarta must admit Suharto massacres and ask forgiveness

First national symposium held on the massacre of 500 thousand communists in 1965. Speakers include victims, several ministers and former army generals. Fr. Magnus-Suseno: "The government must apologize, but only when it admits the full truth. Otherwise it is just hypocrisy. "

 

Jakarta (AsiaNews) - The government's "apology must come at the end of the process. If they apologize during the conference, it is just hypocrisy. Reconciliation can be offered to the victims only when they have the full truth”, said Fr. Franz Magnus-Suseno Sj, professor of philosophy and expert on communism.  He was addressing the first national symposium to discuss the 1965 tragedy, when 500 thousand people, members or supporters of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) were killed. The forum opened yesterday in Central Jakarta and ends today. It involved the victims, several government ministers and former army generals: the security measures were very tight.

On September 30, 1965 some senior army officers were killed in an attempted coup by members diverted of President Sukarno body guard. The conspirators were accused of having contacts with the Communist Party and the president was deposed the following year. The subsequent rise to power of General Suharto - who ruled until 1998, supported by the United States, the CIA and Western anti-Soviet and anti-Chinese block - resulted in the slaughter of Party members and sympathizers, killed or locked up in jail, persecuted with violence and brutality. Communism was outlawed and its ideology prohibited. Many of the affiliates were sent into exile in the island-prison of Buru, without trial or defense in court.

This is the first official meeting - wanted by some members of the government – to discuss of one of the darkest chapters in Indonesian history, welcomed by activist groups who for years have been calling for justice for the relatives of the victims. In a peaceful environment, the children of the slain generals  mingled with the descendants of the Communist elite.

The dictator Suharto has often defended his purges defining them as a reaction to the Communist threat and stating that only the army could prevent civil war. The words of former Minister of Security Luhut B. Panjaitan were also hotly contested.  He spoke at the forum saying that the government does not need to apologize to any specific part of society, reiterating that Indonesia has the strength to leave behind one of its darkest moments.

Fr. Magnus-Suseno says the government should avoid any omission of truth in the reconstruction of the tragedy, branded as "ludicrous" the claims of the general Sintong Panjaitan during the symposium, that the number of killed or missing persons is lower than reported. According to the Jesuit priest - who attended the conference - national reconciliation can only be achieved if four points are met:

1) A clear statement by the government that affirms the reality of the massacre, condemning torture, detentions, unfair trials, and summary executions.

2) Army denials be silenced. There was no civil war: what happened was a massacre against the population, prepared by a strong anti-communist propaganda.

3) Compensation for the victims and their families.

4) The political rehabilitation of Indonesian citizens who for decades have been marginalized because they are considered affiliated with the Communist Party and those exiled.

Fr. Aloysius Purwohadiwardoyo, professor of theology at the University of Yogyakarta, thinks that the current President Yoko Widodo is the right person to achieve peace: "He has no historical connection with that past. It was the Suharto regime that carried out those horrible facts, why should this administration not continue in the peace process? ".

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