New order's black pages in history

Tanjung Priok Berdarah, Tanggung Jawab Siapa? Kumpulan Fakta dan Data (Bloody Tanjung Priok, Whose Responsibility? Compilation of Facts and Data); By Pusat Studi dan Pengembangan Informasi, Partai Bulan Bintang (Center for Information Studies and Development of the Crescent Star Party); Gema Insani Press, Jakarta, September, 1998; 167 pages; Rp 11,750

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Black pages of history characterize the peak of the New Order regime. One of those pages that has remained a mystery is the Tanjung Priok incident of Sept. 12, 1984. The incident, which occurred 15 years ago, was a human rights violation committed by the regime.

Indonesia has now entered the era of reform, an era of improvement regarding the life of the nation and the state. Will the Tanjung Priok incident, which caused the death of hundreds of Muslims, remain shrouded? Will the people involved in the case -- especially the brains behind the incident -- remain at liberty and not be made accountable?

Based on facts and data of eyewitnesses and documents, this book has a clear purpose -- to lift the dark shadow of New Order history.

This book is significant in three respects. First, there is no adequate report on the Tanjung Priok incident. At the most, the public received information from newspapers, magazines and circulars. Second, due to the paucity of information available, people have no knowledge of the incident as a whole. There is only the government's unilateral version on the facts, and it is contrary to the reality. Third, this book is published in the reform era, so hopefully it will prod the Reform Government to open and investigate as soon as possible this black page of New Order history.

The book provides information for the reader on what really triggered the Tanjung Priok tragedy, and why the victims were Muslims.

Comprised of seven chapters, the text is organized into two big themes: first, the arrogance of the New Order government to rule with limitless power. Second, the way the Islamic community is viewed with suspicion and intimidated. These two themes that explain the background of the bloody incident.

This book says the beginning of the incident cannot be separated from the social, economic and political conditions of the 1980s. The New Order government tried with all its might to divest and alienate Islamic mass organizations and political parties from the root of their ideology. Such an ideology was considered a rival to the government.

New Order policies, such as the application of the Pancasila philosophy as the sole principle, often disagreed with and tended to be contrary to views expressed by mass Islamic organizations and political organizations, which at the time were represented by the United Development Party. The application of the single principle in 1983 provoked the Islamic community. The community viewed the policy as an effort to uproot Islamic groups from their ideology, so that the government party, Golkar, would always win at the polls.

From the 1970s, political upheavals, sharpened by the efforts to strip ideology from Islamic groups in 1983, provided the background for the eruption of the bloody incident.

Systematic engineering by the New Order government attained momentum when the intelligence apparatus succeeded in provoking Muslims. The government had prepared these conditions for a long time.

On Sept. 12, 1984, Sgt. Hermanu entered the as-Sa'adah musholla (prayer room) without taking off his shoes. He then poured sewerage water over a recitation class notice on the wall. Provoked by the action, the people became angry. A third party then set fire to Hermanu's motorcycle. The scheme was accompanied by the arrest of four innocent community members, who were accused by the security apparatus of aggravating the matter. Realizing the "odd" situation, Amir Biki, who was leading the recitation class, demanded the release of the four suspected of torching the motorcycle. The situation became increasingly tense, when there was no sign of their release. Finally, riots on the same evening proved the success of the security apparatus to place Muslims in a marginal position.

After the demise of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), the Islamic community was accused as the majority group most dangerous toward the state. It was at this juncture that Islam was put into a corner of suspicion and intimidation.

Hundreds of Muslims were killed when the apparatus selected violence as their only language. However, in order to cover up the savagery of the New Order regime, the government informed the public that the riots had led to the death of nine Muslims and the injury of 53. The spokespersons were then Armed Forces Commander L.B. Moerdani, then Jakarta Military District Commander Try Sutrisno, then Minister of Information Harmoko and then Jakarta Police chief Soedjoko.

The unilateral explanation provided by the security apparatus provoked an emphatic reaction from a number of public figures, such as Ali Sadikin and his friends. Finally a "White Page" was published explaining that the incident had been engineered, and was a "tragedy on a tragedy".

This collection of facts and data is an endeavor to enforce human rights and justice in a nondiscriminatory manner. The book is a concrete listing of demands addressed to the Reform Order government. The book challenges the government to uncover the black page in the history of the New Order and sue those involved in the incident, without exception, including former president Soeharto.

-- M. Ilham Akbar Mahardika