BBC World News, Saturday, 15 May, 2004, 14:59 GMT 15:59 UK
Indonesia's killing fields
By Christopher Gunness, BBC correspondent in Indonesia
[PHOTO: When he came to power in 1965, Suharto imposed authoritarian rule]
For the first time, 150 million Indonesians will soon be able to vote directlyy for a new
president. As the country tries to move to a more democratic status, Christopher
Gunness uncovers the historical roots of Indonesia's political problems.
I have been making programmes in Asia for more than 20 years.
Yet this one was unique in one respect - nearly every one I spoke to broke down and
wept as they recounted the painful events I was digging up.
One woman had not discussed her father's disappearance since the event itself. Too
frightened to give me her name, weeping throughout our meeting, she said these were
her first tears since 1965.
It is a 20th Century genocide that few people know of and even fewer have
acknowledged - until now.
Untold story
It all began in the dead of night on 30 September, 1965: an attempted coup.
[TEXTBOX: What I tell you is the untold story of Indonesia's killing fields]
Six generals were dragged from their homes and taken to an air base on the edge of
the capital, Jakarta.
Those who were not already dead were tortured and killed, their bodies thrown down a
well.
This was to be Indonesia's dark night of the generals - a moment that would define a
modern nation.
As many as a million and a half people were killed in the violence that followed. A
greater number were imprisoned, many tortured.
What I tell you is the untold story of Indonesia's killing fields.
With the generals dead at the bottom of that well, the plotters moved to secure
political power. General Suharto, the dictator in waiting, was then head of the Special
Forces.
Sensing an opportunity, he issued a deadline to the rebels to give up, and they did.
Within a day, it was all over.
Then came the mass slaughter.
Neighbour against neighbour
One popular theory is that Suharto himself put it about that the attempted coup was
the work of the Communist Party - the most powerful in the world outside China and
the Soviet Union.
[PHOTO: Indonesia has seen unprecedented turmoil in recent years]
People like Suharto within the military were looking for a reason to cut the
Communistss down to size - quite literally, as it turned out.
Suddenly, anti-communist lynch mobs were on the streets of Jakarta. And in the
countryside, army-backed mobs went on the rampage, settling old scores.
Neighbour turned on neighbour in acts of viciousness that East Asia has rarely seen.
And there are eerie reports that in Bali, communists, dressed in white, marched
peacefully in ghostly procession to their executions.
Meanwhile, in the towns and cities, there were sweeps against the urban
intelligentsia.
Thousands were taken from their homes, interrogated and tortured.
Within 18 months, General Suharto had not just liquidated the Communist Party, he
had seized political power, marginalising and then wresting the presidency from the
man who had led Indonesia to independence - President Sukarno.
Expensive silence
And here we return to the question of all those tears. For 32 years of Suharto's rule,
Indonesians were forbidden to talk openly about the events of 1965.
[TEXTBOX: The crying has come 40 years too late]
The mere mention that Suharto might have played a role in demonising and then
wiping ouut the Communist Party could land you in prison.
And it is only now that democracy has apparently come to Indonesia that people are
able to speak publicly and confront the pains of the past.
The crying has come 40 years too late.
But it was not all Suharto's conspiracy of silence. Britain and America were in on it
too. They were only too glad to see Suharto oust Sukarno.
Sukarno had been vehemently anti-Western and had aligned Indonesia with
communist China.
To this day, key British documents remain classified. But back then, General Suharto
was richly rewarded with billions of British and American tax dollars, which we now
know were corruptly squandered.
Silence can be expensive.
History too painful
As for legacies, there are two that disturb me most.
[PHOTO: President Sukarno led Indonesia to independence after World War II]
First, today in Indonesia, as in 1965, key questions about the fate of the nation are
ddecided by an elite handful, usually dominated by the military. Backroom deals are
what really make the country tick.
And secondly, a culture of violence remains endemic. In many of the country's trouble
spots - just as in 1965 - the army skilfully manipulates old tensions, provoking
butchery for their own ends.
The Indonesia of yesterday lives on in today's unpunished violence.
For example, the former army chief accused of backing a military killing spree in East
Timor plans shortly to stand as president - and may do well.
The great tragedy for me is that unlike other mass murders of the 20th Century,
Indonesia in 1965 remains a story never fully told. Its perpetrators have not been
brought to justice.
Indonesians - those who were responsible, those who were complicit, those who just
stood by and watched - have never fully faced up to their own roles.
Looking into history means looking into themselves - a view too painful to
contemplate.
But the old cliché might just be true - those who are ignorant of history could be
condemned to repeat it.
From Our Own Correspondent was broadcast on Saturday, 16 May, 2004 at 1130 BST on
BBC Radio 4. Please check the programme schedules for World Service transmission
times.
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