Truth and Justice?

Abstract

This chapter explores the related problems of establishing a fair and truthful record of 1965–66 and securing justice for the victims of those events. It begins by recounting briefly the efforts that have been made since 1998 by Indonesian officials as well as historians, activists, survivors, artists, and journalists to excavate the past. It makes clear that in the first few years after Suharto's resignation, there was a significant new openness in both official and public attitudes toward the events of 1965–66, fueled in part by a general spirit of reform, and also by the availability of many new avenues for sharing information and political opinion. The chapter then contrasts these hopeful signs with the evidence of a serious backlash against the new openness, starting as early as 2000. It argues that the backlash has entailed a dogmatic refusal by state officials to countenance any meaningful initiatives in the arena of policy change, truth gathering, or justice, which in turn has enlivened and empowered resistance to reform by a variety of conservative religious and political groups.