Declassified Files Have No Effect on Settlement of 1965 Tragedy
20 October 2017 09:00 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - An expert staff at the Presidential office Theo Litaay says his office will further investigate the declassified files of the United States revealing information on the 1965 history in Indonesia. He is assured that the documents will not affect the settlement of the 1965 tragedy.
“This is just the initial information; we’ll conduct a further investigation on it,” he said at the Amnesty International Indonesia office in Menteng, Central Jakarta Pusat, on Thursday, Oct. 19.
Theo explains that overseeing the political reality in Indonesia is still needed in the settlement to the 1965 tragedy. The investigation into the documents, he says, is to determine the government’s response.”The documents have no effect. The reconciliation continues.”
Read: Files Show New Details of US Support for Indonesia Bloodbath
Theo is optimistic that the government is still continuing the reconciliation process of the 1965 tragedy before the tenure of Joko Widodo’s presidency ended. “It will be settled, otherwise, it will be resumed by the next administration. But we’ll keep on pushing,” he said.
Earlier, the secret documents of U.S. Embassy in Indonesia in the period of 1964-1968 revealed new facts on the massacre of thousands of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) members and sympathizers.
The files stated that Indonesian Military (TNI-AD) was involved in the President Soekarno’s abortive coup after the September 30th’s movement in 1965 (G30S).
The military also supported the civilian defense units (hansip) at the villages with arms to watch over PKI supporters’ movement and expand TNI’s command to the remote areas. They also made the religious organizations involved in the 1965-1966 massacre.
As many as 39 documents of the 1965 history in Indonesia were made public upon the request of the non-profit institution; the National Security Archive at The George Washington University, the United States. The files include telegram records, weekly reports of the government to the U.S Foreign Ministry, and the latest situation from the Indonesian Navy Intelligent Director.
Arkhelaus Wisnu Triyogo
