The 9\/30 tragedy<\/p>\n
Something horrible happened 40 years ago that changed the
\ncourse of Indonesia's history, unfortunately for the worse. But
\nwhile the circumstances surrounding the kidnapping and murder of
\nsix Army generals on the night of Sept. 30, 1965, remain
\nshrouded in mystery, the effects of this tragic event are
\nunequivocal: it was a case of one tragedy leading to another, and
\nanother, and another.<\/p>\n
Whoever was responsible for the kidnappings and killings, and
\nwhatever their motives -- both questions remain contentious to
\nthis day among historians -- the events of that night, which
\nlasted until the early hours of Oct. 1, unleashed a killing spree
\nthat went on for months, with the main targets, though by far not
\nthe only targets, being suspected members and supporters of the
\nIndonesian Communist Party (PKI), which was blamed for the murder
\nof the generals.<\/p>\n
If that was not enough of a tragedy, the nation saw the young
\nArmy general Soeharto seize the presidency the following year,
\nushering in an era of repression, brutality and corruption that
\nwould last for the next three decades.<\/p>\n
Soeharto was easily one of the most ruthless rulers of the
\n20th century, and his human rights record matches those of other
\ndictators of his era: the jailing of tens of thousands of people
\nwithout trial, the invasion of East Timor and the ensuing brutal
\nrule of the territory, the silencing of politicians, clerics and
\nstudents who disagreed with his policies, his brutal policies in
\nAceh and Papua, to name but a few. Last week, more than seven
\nyears after his removal from office, the National Commission on
\nHuman Rights announced that 14 government critics who went
\nmissing during Soeharto's rule had been murdered.<\/p>\n
Soeharto's legacy goes beyond the atrocities he and his regime
\ncommitted. The militaristic and often brutal nature of our
\npolitical culture today, from the intolerance to the use of
\nviolence to settle differences, is deeply rooted in Soeharto's
\nNew Order, and it will likely require one or two generations to
\nundo this unfortunate legacy as the nation struggles to transform
\nitself into a democracy.<\/p>\n
But the biggest tragedy for the nation is our own denial that
\n9\/30 was a tragedy of horrific proportions. Soeharto used the
\nevent to sanctify Pancasila, effectively turning the state
\nideology into an instrument he could wield to justify his brutal
\npolicies.<\/p>\n
Officially, at least during the Soeharto years, the event was
\nmarked on Oct. 1, thus confining the tragedy solely to the
\nkilling of the six generals and, at least according to military
\nhistorians, to the abortive coup by the PKI. What happened
\nafterward was justified as a necessary evil, even a historical
\nnecessity, although the killing spree was not openly recognized.<\/p>\n
There was no mention in the military-dictated official history
\nbooks of the ensuing bloodshed, which according to international
\nhuman rights organizations left at least half a million people
\ndead. The precise figure will never be known precisely because we
\nas a nation pretend it never happened.<\/p>\n
C. L. Sulzberger, writing in The New York Times from Jakarta
\non April 13, 1966, compared the Indonesian killings with other
\nslaughters of the 20th century, including the Armenian massacres,
\nStalin's starvation of the Kulaks, Hitler's Jewish genocide, the
\nMuslim-Hindu killings following India's partition and the purges
\nfollowing China's turn to communism.<\/p>\n
\"Indonesia's bloody persecution of its communist rivals these
\nterrible events in both scale and savagery,\" Sulzberger wrote.<\/p>\n
Four decades later the nation has not fully come to terms with
\nthe reality of these events. We barely know the truth. We only
\nhave the truth Soeharto's military wanted us to have. The worst
\npart is that most of us do not seem to want to know what
\nhappened. We would rather bury this ugly past and forget it
\nentirely.<\/p>\n
But here is the bad news: We can never bury the past. This
\ndark page in our history will continue to haunt us for as long as
\nwe fail to get to the truth. As they say, only the truth shall
\nset us free.<\/p>\n
More than seven years since Soeharto left the political stage,
\nsurely the time has come for the nation to rewrite the history of
\nwhat happened on the night of Sept. 30, 1965. History is always
\nwritten from the perspective of the victors. Soeharto was the
\nwinner of the power struggle in the mid-1960s, thus he had his
\nday. \"His story\", rather than history, ruled the day.<\/p>\n
But as his legacy shows, there are no real winners here. The
\nentire nation suffered, and continues to suffer to this day.
\nThere are only losers.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/the-930-tragedy-1447893297",
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