Indonesia’s president cites 11 violent events that occurred between 1965 and 2003, including a crackdown against pro-democracy movements and the country’s Chinese community. Widodo’s acknowledgement follows a report by a special commission. Activists believe that if the government is sincere it should order further measures.
Jakarta (AsiaNews/Agencies) – Indonesian President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo today acknowledged that “gross human rights violations” were committed in the country starting in the 1960s, constituting a dark period in Indonesia's history.
Historians estimate that at least 500,000 people were killed in the violence that began in late 1965 when General Suharto seized power following a failed communist coup. At least one million people were jailed on suspicion of being communists.
After studying the report of a commission specially established last year, “I, as a head of state, acknowledge that there were gross human rights violations,” Mr Widodo said, citing 11 events that occurred up to 2003.
At the end of the 1990s, the Indonesian government, still led by General Suharto, bloodily cracked down on student protests against his 30-year rule, resulting in the killing and disappearance of many young people.
In 1998, the Chinese community, Indonesia’s largest minority, was targeted, for allegedly accumulating wealth at the expense of ordinary Indonesians.
President Widodo also cited serious human rights violations in Papua, a restive province home to a strong pro-independence movement seeking unification with the rest of New Guinea Island.
He also said that he would guarantee that this type of events would not be repeated; meanwhile, he expressed his “great sympathy and deep empathy for the victims and their families”.
Likewise, he pledged to restore their rights “properly and wisely without ever addressing this issue in the courts” in the hope that "this move will prompt our path to national reconciliation among fellow citizens so that brotherhood will prevail in our unitary Republic of Indonesia.”
The president's sincerity has been questioned, however. In the past, as attorney general in charge of investigating human rights cases, he often rejected many claims.
“If President Jokowi is serious about past human rights violations, he should first order” the government “to investigate these mass killings,” said Andreas Harsono, a researcher at Human Rights Watch, and “document mass graves, find their families, match the graves and their families, as well as set up a commission to decide what to do next.”