Indonesians Demand the Government End Attacks on Free Speech

Dozens of Indonesia’s most prominent intellectuals and activists have called on their government to end its repressive stance on freedom of expression.

In an open statement signed by 172 filmmakers, bloggers, youth advocates, artists and journalists, the signatories denounced a series of violent attacks on personal freedoms that they said harkens back to the 1965 purge of communists that saw hundreds of thousands of people killed and imprisoned by the army.

In particular, the letter cited the recent “arbitrary arrest” and deportation of Tom Iljas for visiting his father’s grave, who was a victim of the 1965 anti-communist campaign.

The letter also cited the forced withdrawal of an edition of The Lentera student magazine for publishing stories about the 1965 killings in Salatiga, Central Java. The copies were confiscated and burned by police.

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The signatories made four demands, including that police “respect people’s constitutional and basic rights for freedom of expression”; cancel the deportation of Iljas; protect those who wish to discuss and investigate the 1965 massacres from censorship; and open a dialogue with those who were affected by the violence.

“We believe that after 50 years the nation urgently needs an open, transparent and honest investigation and discussions on the 1965 Communist mass murder and its aftermath, events that have claimed millions of lives and brought misery to millions of others,” the letter said.

“The family of the victims must receive justice they deserve to get, while we believe that it’s best for the institutions allegedly involved in the crimes to clean their name once and for all to allow them embrace the better future,” it continued. “It’s the best interest of the nation and its people if the massacre is cleared from surrounding dust and that justice is given to both the perpetrators and victims.”

In September, Indonesia marked the 50th anniversary of an alleged attempted coup that the military used to justify a campaign that killed as many as 3 million people, one of the worst acts of genocide in recorded history.

With U.S. support, the military-backed regime of Suharto massacred any Indonesians perceived as hostile to his far-right agenda, communist or not. Most of the Indonesian Communist Party was wiped out, accused alongside the government of Sukarno of launching the “coup.”

In the midst of the bloodbath, the army, religious organizations and paramilitary groups worked to hound suspected communists, while ethnic Chinese were also targeted. Some were spared death and flung into prisons.

Suharto was only toppled in 1998. However, while his exit has brought back democracy in Indonesia, it has not ended the impunity for those who destroyed it.