The International People's Tribunal (IPT) on 1965 crimes against humanity in Indonesia is held in the Nieuwe Kerk in The Hague, the Netherlands, on Nov. 10 to 13, 2015. (Courtesy of the International People’s Tribunal 1965)

Marguerite Afra Sapiie 

The Jakarta Post 

Jakarta / Sat, October 21, 2017

Following the release of declassified United States files on the 1965-1966 tragedy, activists have called on the government to use the release as an opportunity to refresh and conclude a long-stalled investigation into the mass killings, for the sake of justice for the victims and families. 

Some 30,000 pages of files from the US Embassy released on Tuesday revealed more details of the campaign to purge thousands of members and alleged sympathizers of the now-defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). 

Amnesty International Indonesia director Usman Hamid called on the Indonesian Military (TNI), which was mentioned many times in the US archives, to release its own records on the tragedy publicly, to reveal the truth about what really happened at the time. 

“There should be a comparison between the declassified US files and the Indonesian government’s archives. This opportunity can be used to renew efforts [to resolve the tragedy] as long as the government has the willingness to do it,” he said at a press conference on Friday. 

He called on the government to send an official request through the Foreign Ministry to obtain the US government’s archives and use the files as part of efforts to ensure accountability and justice for the survivors of the 1965 tragedy and their families. 

The US files, Usman said, could solve the excuses made by officials who repeatedly claimed that difficulties in solving the country’s dark past lie in the lack of evidence and witnesses to bring the cases to court. 

The trove of files had also highlighted systematic human rights abuses during the 1965 atrocities. A telegram dated 28 Dec. 1965, for instance, recorded that people accused of being PKI members were brought to an unknown location where they were slaughtered and buried. Another cable in the same month revealed that the Army handed over 10 to 15 prisoners to civilians to be executed. 

A Dec. 21, 1965 cable sent to the US State Department noted that at least 100,000 people had been killed in anti-PKI violence. 

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto said the government would not immediately use the documents as the basis for a new investigation because there should be a process to fact-check the foreign information first. 

Sri Lestari Wahyuningrum, an international steering committee member of the International People’s Tribunal (IPT65), said the findings revealed in the US archives had been presented during a tribunal at The Hague in 2016, which ruled that the Indonesian government had committed crimes against humanity during the 1965-1966 purge. 

The tribunal’s judge at the time suggested that the Indonesian government apologize and provide reconciliation and rehabilitation services for the victims. The verdict, however, had been dismissed by the cabinet ministers of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. 

“The release of the US files has strengthend the tribunal’s ruling [...] More evidences will continue to appear and we cannot stop the revelation of the truth,” Sri said. 

She went on to urge Jokowi to immediately establish a Truth Commission to spearhead the revelation of the truth and give justice to human rights abuse victims as mandated in Jokowi’s National Mid-Term Development Plan (RPJMN) 2015-2019. 

Separately, National Commission of Human Rights (Komnas HAM) chairman Nurkholis said the rights body had contacted the US Embassy in Jakarta to obtain a copy of the declassified documents, adding that in the meantime it hoped to meet the embassy’s officials next week. 

The findings revealed in the obtained documents would be assessed and used to complement Komnas HAM’s investigation on the 1965 tragedy that concluded in 2012 after almost four years of investigation, Nurkholis said. 

“The files will be very useful to support the process of judicial means, namely investigation, as well as non-judicial means, including reconciliation and the revelation of the truth,” Nurkholis told The Jakarta Post.

This article was originally published in The Jakarta Post's print edition on Oct. 21, 2017, with the title "Calls to renew probe of 1965 tragedy mount".