New order's black pages in history

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