‘Remorseful Apologies Come After a Delayed Response’ on the Massacres of Communists in Indonesia

• Mustafa Marghadi

  Southeast Asia correspondent

Casini (79) shuffles towards her father’s cemetery with her basket full of colorful petals. It is located in the village where she lives, near the town of Kramat on the north coast of Java. She comes once a year. “My father’s death is very traumatic. That’s why I don’t come here so often.”

The elderly woman also does not even know which grave belongs to her father. After passing under the green iron arch above the entrance, she stops at two small mass graves. “Assalamaleikum daddy. I hope God treats you well.”

Casini’s father lies in one of those two graves. Together with fourteen others who were arrested in 1965 by a gang because they were suspected of communist sympathies. 21 she was. “He was put on a truck and taken to a nearby paddy field. They were shot there.” She didn’t see it, but she vividly remembers the sound of the automatic rifles. “Ratatatata!”

It haunts Casini’s mind as she throws the flower petals over the graves where the bodies have been dumped. “Apparently my father was still alive when they put him in here. I always think of that when I come here. Those times were so frightening.”

Casini’s father was a victim of “the mother of all human rights abuses” in Indonesia. In 1965 and 1966, it is estimated that between 500,000 and 2 million suspected communists were murdered in the run-up to the takeover of then General Suharto. It is one of 12 human rights violations in the country that President Joko Widodo has expressed regret for, after decades of denial by various governments.

A step in the right direction, according to relatives, Casini and human rights organizations. “But it is too little and too late,” said Andreas Harsono. He works for Human Rights Watch, among others, and is known as Indonesia’s human rights conscience.

He points out that countless survivors of various human rights violations do not have the knowledge that Casini does. “For six decades, relatives have wondered where their fathers, mothers and brothers are. Because there has never been any research, nothing documented. And that still has to be done.”

And the deep traces that massacres have left in society must also be discussed. “Our life was miserable after the death of our father. We were looked down upon because we were children of a communist. We were intimidated and hardly got any bread on the table. We were very scared.”

And that culture of fear passed on to subsequent generations. While Casini kneels in silence at one of the tombs, her daughter Sri Hesti sits at the entrance, pondering the life she could have led. “Ever since I was little I always wanted to join the police. I even got my hair cut, like the cops had their haircut. But mother said that as a family of a communist we couldn’t become a civil servant or a doctor. I was disappointed, and have always felt inferior.”

Since last year, families of suspected communists have been allowed to register for the army again. But even the new, amended penal code states that propagating communism can lead to 15 years in prison. This stems from the ideas of the winners of that battle in 1965. People who, in many cases, are still sitting on the plush side.

“The fact that the mass murderers or their descendants are often still in power in Indonesia,” says Andreas Harsono, “makes the path to justice very difficult.” Take Defense Minister Prabowo Subianto: he was commander under President Suharto (1967-1998), the period in which many of the human rights violations took place for which President Joko Widodo has expressed regret. But that will not stop Subianto from running for president for the third time: he is one of the favorites to succeed Widodo next year.

It is one of the reasons why Joko Widodo’s apologies do not go down well with human rights organizations and next of kin. The president plans to tour the country to speak to people about their experiences, but no legal action is being taken in recognition of the bloodshed. While that is exactly what is needed, says Harsono. “Legal action, but also an investigation into the facts. Not only of the twelve violations mentioned, but of many more mass murders.”

But Casini and her daughter don’t count on it anytime soon due to the balance of power in Indonesia. The fear of speaking out is noticeable when Casini’s voice suddenly becomes very thin. “I want a fair trial. Because people have died. I want us to be treated as well as possible. As fair as possible.” Sri Hesti takes her mother’s hand and together they shuffle off the cemetery. They won’t be back until next year. Because as long as that fair process does not come about, things will continue to haunt Indonesia.