JP/2/PKI

JP/2/PKI

Sept. 30 tragedy still leaves scars unhealed

Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak
The Jakarta Post
Jakarta

After 37 years, the Sept. 30, 1965 coup blamed on the former
Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) still remains a mystery and a
source of suffering to those labeled as PKI and their
descendants.

A number of documents and testimonies which spring up
periodically contradict the government's version of events of the
coup which led to the murder of some 500,000 people.

The latest version came from CIA documents detailing the
U.S.'s secret Cold War era support for the anti-communist
campaign targeting the PKI which was believed to be allied with
founding president Sukarno.

The documents, released by the U.S. State Department last
year, show a U.S. plan to funnel tens of thousands of dollars to
an action group, which was said to be army-inspired but civilian-
staffed.

Historian Asvi Warman Adam from the Indonesian Institute of
Sciences (LIPI) said the PKI may not have been the only culprit.

"We can see that the U.S. was playing a role in the tragedy,
few of the PKI elite were involved, and there were also conflicts
within the Army. The government should analyze these versions in
order to reveal the truth so we may reconcile with the past," he
told The Jakarta Post by telephone on Sunday.

Seven Army generals were killed in the coup's aftermath. They
were believed to be Sukarno loyalists who were opponents of Lt.
Gen. Soeharto's faction in the Army. Soeharto was commanding the
Army's Strategic Reverse (Kostrad) at that time.

Under the command of Soeharto, who later succeeded Sukarno as
president until May 1998, at least 500,000 people labeled as PKI
members or supporters were slain while millions of their
descendants were, and still are, deprived of their rights as
citizens.

The number, according to Asvi, does not include the victim's
families and relatives who were also killed in the carnage. The
official number given by the government is 78,000 people, with
300 listed as nationalists or from religious groups.

Around 10,000 others were jailed on Buru Island, most of them
without standing trial. Many others fled overseas.

Dependents of those labeled as PKI supporters lost their
rights as citizens to have positions in the government or to work
as civil servants, while they are obliged to report their
whereabouts to police regularly.

The Air Force -- which at that time was Sukarno's favorite and
was also blamed for the coup with several top officers such as
the former chief of the Air Force, marshall Omar Dhani, jailed --
has "been marginalized" for more than three decades.

Rear Marshall (ret.) Sri Mulyono Herlambang stated in a book
titled Menyingkap Kabut Halim (Unveiling the Mist in Halim), that
the Air Force had been accused of planning to destroy Kostrad
Headquarters in Gambir, Central Jakarta.

"Many facts had been manipulated for the interests of many
groups, including politicians and the military. Now, we want our
tarnished image to be rehabilitated but the government has yet to
do so."

Last year, former president Abdurrahman Wahid proposed
revoking a 1966 Provisional People's Consultative Assembly decree
banning communism and the teaching of Marxism and socialism in
Indonesia, only to meet strong opposition from those claiming to
be victims of the PKI in the past.

Hardline groups have even seized and burned books they believe
were aimed at disseminating teachings on communism.

Human rights campaigners have called for the establishment of
a truth and reconciliation commission to allow the country to
come to terms with its traumatic past, but the House of
Representatives had yet to debate its establishment.

Coordinator of the National Committee of the 1965 Human
Tragedy, Gustaf Dupe, criticized the government for its lack of
political will to lift discriminatory regulations against those
who bear the label as PKI, a label that was usually given to
Soeharto's opponents in a bid to justify their elimination.

"As a first step, the Minister of Home Affairs can revoke a
1981 instruction which gives authority down to the smallest
administration to monitor those indicated as PKI members.

"Without clarifying the tragedy and rehabilitation of the PKI-
accused, how can this nation reconcile?," he told the Post.