Jakarta – The Institute for the Study of the 1965-1966 Massacres (YPKP 65) is ready to provide a list of names of people to the Attorney General’s Office (AGO) who can be witnesses to the bloody 1965/66 tragedy. This follows long delays in resolving past human rights violations.
The case has now been languishing for 54 years. The investigation dossiers compiled by the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) have been repeatedly returned by the AGO on the grounds that they lack evidence.
One of the 1965/66 survivors who is also a member of YPKP 65, Soedarno, hopes that by providing dossiers containing a list of the people killed, tortured and detained on Buru Island and those who died at various detention centres, it will assist the process of law enforcement at the Adhyaksa Corps as the AGO is known.
“We need legal certainty. So that the stigma which we suffer will not continue, for example if we’re wrong we will accept the risk and if for example we [are found] not to have done what we are accused of doing by the state then the stigma which we suffer will end here”, said Soedarno at the complaints section of the AGO in South Jakarta on Thursday October 3.
The community of survivors and family members of victims of the 1965/66 tragedy also handed over the locations of 346 mass grave sites around country.
YPKP 65 Chairperson Bedjo Untung confirmed that they have handed this information over to the Attorney General including other evidence in the form of photographs and eyewitness testimonies.
“The Attorney General should not be able to dodge this, because we have material evidence which is quite strong”, said Untung after submitting the complaint with the AGO.
“I have already assessed and verified all of it at several locations. The YPKP has networks in various areas throughout Indonesia, eye witnesses, also their families. So I can say that the score for our report is 99 correct”, he said.
The 1965/55 survivors who visited the AGO came from various parts of the country including Cirebon, Grobogan and Pekalongan. Their average ages was over 80 years.
The pages of reports which were attached to the complaint were received by AGO Government Institution Relations Sub-Directorate Head Andi Rio Rahmat Rahmatu.
The YPKP 65 was promised that the report would be processed within the week. According to Untung, the deputy Attorney General stated that the dossier would be handed over to the Deputy Attorney General Special Crimes Division (Jampidsus).
“The state should substantiate [the report] not the YPKP. Because the AGO has the authority [to investigate and prosecute cases]”, said Untung.
“In 2016 the victims felt happy because there was the symposium [a government sponsored symposium on the 1965 affair], it was a breath of fresh air. But then it was rejected by the generals. The government should not be defeated by an intolerant group because it was an academic forum”, he recollected.
In 2016 when Luhut Panjaitan still held the position of Coordinating Minister for Security, Politics and Legal Affairs, a national symposium was held as an effort to resolve the 1965/66 tragedy. At the time, Agus Widjojo – now the head of the National Resilience Institutive – was one of the initiators of the symposium.
The academic forum which presented researchers, historians and witnesses produced a number of recommendations but they were never followed up by the government. (ika/pmg)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was “Penyintas Tragedi 1965 Bersedia Siapkan Saksi kepada Kejagung”.]
