Indonesia’s 1965 massacres on trial in The Hague

Over four days in November, the voices of survivors of the 1965 Indonesian massacres were heard by a hushed crowd of several hundred people, mainly Indonesian exiles, gathered in a 17th century church in The Hague.

Fifty years ago, the Indonesian army, led by general Suharto, used an alleged coup attempt by the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) as a pretext to mount a savage right wing seizure of power.

Starting on 1 October 1965, at least 500,000 people were murdered and millions were imprisoned without trial in appalling conditions for up to 20 years. Many were subjected to torture – including rape and other sexual violence – forced labour and exile.

Until this day, survivors and their relatives continue to suffer discrimination, such as bars to employment and educational opportunities and persecution by local authorities.

For 50 years, the government has denied these crimes; the state has never uttered a single word of apology, let alone paid reparations or brought any of the perpetrators to trial.

As a result, a number of victims, scholars and activists decided to convene a People’s Tribunal on the events.

It became clear that such a tribunal could not be held safely in Indonesia: a number of attacks were launched this year – by vigilantes, militias and even some local authorities – on efforts to commemorate or even discuss the 1965 massacres or to identify the many mass graves throughout the country.

In October, a student newspaper was seized and destroyed. Even the prestigious Ubud Writers Festival was instructed to cancel a number of book launches and discussions, or risk the closure of the whole festival.

A prosecution team led by one of Indonesian’s leading lawyers, T. Mulya Lubis, travelled to The Hague to present the indictment against the state of Indonesia for crimes against humanity committed in 1965 and beyond.

The United States, the UK and Australia were also charged with conspiracy for their role in facilitating the commission of these crimes – including the provision of military equipment as well as political and diplomatic support and even provision of names of people to be targeted. The government of Indonesia and the other states did not respond to an invitation to make submissions to the tribunal.

Survivors also travelled to The Hague to give testimony – some publicly in ringing and defiant tones, while others spoke from behind a curtain to protect their identity, barely able to relate the extent of their pain and suffering.

Their accounts were supplemented by video footage and expert testimony as well as a huge volume of research reports and documentation.

On the final day of the hearings, the panel of seven judges issued a concluding statement, which said:

“It has been established that the state of Indonesia during the relevant period through its military and police arms committed and encouraged the commission of these grave human rights violations on a systematic and widespread basis.

“The judges are also convinced that all this was done for political purposes: to annihilate the PKI and those alleged to be its members or sympathisers, as well as a much broader number of people including [former president] Sukarno loyalists, trade unionists and teachers.

“The design was also to prop up a dictatorial violent regime which the people of Indonesia have rightly consigned to history. It cannot be doubted that these acts, evaluated separately and cumulatively, constitute crimes against humanity, both in International Law and judged by the values and the legal framework of the new reformist era accepted by the people of Indonesia 17 years ago.

“This Tribunal has heard the detailed and moving evidence of victims and families as well as the evidence of established experts. It saw this evidence as no more than the mere tip of the iceberg, a few tangible, graphic and painful examples of the devastation of the human beings who appeared before them, as well as the wholesale destruction of the human fabric of a considerable sector of Indonesian society …

“The judges consider the state of Indonesia responsible in the commission of such crimes against humanity as the chain of command was organised from top to bottom of the institutional bodies. The prosecution made the case that other states have aided Suharto’s ruthless regime to achieve these results in the pursuit of the establishment of a particular international order in the context of the Cold War. We will consider this in our final judgment.”

The tribunal called on the Indonesian government to implement the recommendations (to take action to find justice and provide reparations for the 1965 crimes against humanity) made by both its own Commission for Violence against Women in 2007, and Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) in 2012 after hearing representatives of both bodies; and for Indonesia’s president Joko Widodo to deliver on his electoral promise to act.

Hundreds of reports on the tribunal appeared in the Indonesian press and social media, and people gathered in a number of locations around the country to watch a live streaming of the hearings.

While many welcomed the belated attempt to press for justice, some military and reactionary groups immediately labelled it a “revival of the PKI”, calling those who participated “traitors to the nation”. The latter slogan was painted on placards and banners unfurled at Jakarta airport on the participants’ return.

After 50 years of fighting, those survivors who are still alive have finally found enough support to force a public discussion of 1965. A strong campaign will be needed to achieve their demands for justice and reparations.

[For more details of the People’s Tribunal, and how you can join this campaign, visit 1965tribunal.org.]