A nation divided?

A nation divided?

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's promise this week to put national
reconciliation at the top of his government's agenda once he is
installed as president on Oct. 20 could not have come at a more
opportune moment as, today, history once again comes knocking at
the door of the nation's collective conscience. Though 39 years
have elapsed since Indonesia's biggest human tragedy in modern
times began to unfold in the pre-dawn hours of Oct. 30, 1965,
time, it seems, has done little to expunge the memory of that
day, when alleged communist death squads roamed the still-quiet
streets of Jakarta, seeking out marked homes in the city's elite
residential neighborhoods, killing or abducting targeted army
officers for assassination in a remote spot in the city's eastern
suburbs.

Six army generals and one lieutenant were killed in what
military judges and historians of the time say was a communist-
inspired plot to wipe out the entire army leadership and take
over the government. Catastrophic as those events may have been,
what came in the weeks that followed defies all imagination.
Troops of the then Indonesian Armed Forces (ABRI), led by the
army, swarmed out across Java's towns and countryside, rounding
up known and suspected members or sympathizers of the now-banned
Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). Anticommunist groups, with the
encouragement of the Army, took part in the rampage.

No one to this day knows how many "communists" precisely were
killed in that orgy of retaliation that swept across the country
during those first few weeks of what has since become known as
the G30S tragedy. Rough estimates, however, put the number at
least 500,000. The tens of thousands of others who escaped the
killings were jailed or banished to remote prison camps,
including the infamous Buru Island camp in eastern Indonesia. And
more: Their kin, close friends and associates were barred from
taking government jobs or others that would enable them "to
spread their influence". The G30S tragedy eventually led to the
ouster of President Sukarno and the establishment of the New
Order government under president Soeharto. Sukarno's left-leaning
policies abruptly gave way to Soeharto's rightist, dictatorial
and corrupt regime. In short, the G30S movement, as it is
popularly known, heralded a complete turnabout in policies.

With the known penchant of Soeharto's New Order regime for
manipulating or falsifying historical facts, however, doubts have
since emerged among many scholars as to the validity of the
existing interpretation of this crucial episode of the country's
most recent history. As a consequence, not only are calls being
aired for a reevaluation of the New Order version of Indonesia's
most recent history, demands are rising for the rehabilitation of
the good standing of families unjustly punished for their alleged
leftist and communist sympathies in the past.

In fact, a first step in this direction was made by president
Abdurrahman Wahid, but was never followed up due to the strong
opposition he faced. The president had to see his term cut short
by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), which accused him of
incompetence. The emphasis that is being placed on national
reconciliation by the man who is most likely to become
Indonesia's new president after Oct. 20, Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono, now seems to offer a new opportunity for such a
rehabilitation, and for a redress of injustices committed in the
past against tens of thousands of Indonesians.

Of course, it remains to be seen whether or not a program of
reconciliation aimed specifically at compensating for these
injustices is deemed acceptable by those who will be in power as
of Oct. 20. Nevertheless, the spirit of atonement and
conciliation that has been repeatedly conveyed by Susilo, and the
prospect of the establishment of a proposed Truth and
Reconciliation Commission, raise the hope that, at long last, the
nation will be able to confront the past before it lets bygones
be bygones. What that means is that the Indonesian nation will at
least have a better chance to stride forward into a better future
-- united and undivided -- in accordance with Susilo's campaign
slogan.