Violence on the Margins: Local Power, Spillover Effects, and Patterns of Violence in Gunung Kidul, 1965–66

Abstract: This paper sheds light on spatial determinants of violence in rural areas of Indonesia during the 1965–66 mass killings. To do so, it focuses on the regency of Gunungkidul through the lens of the census. The analysis of census information for the 144 desa and kelurahan (village and urban neighbourhoods) of Gunungkidul reveals that violence was higher near the more urban environs of Wonosari and the adjacent city of Yogyakarta, and in the central-eastern desa of the regency. We attribute these high levels of violence to the proximity of these desa to perpetrator strongholds in Wonosari and Yogyakarta and to their accessibility by road. We also attribute violence in eastern areas of the regency to pre-existing political tensions in this region. Conversely, we find patterns of population gains in the southwest, southeast, and northeast corners of the regency, suggesting that they were sites of refuge: all are remote and difficult to access by road. In the case of the northeast, this region also likely served as a refuge for people fleeing intense violence in neighbouring Klaten to the north. This paper demonstrates that even in areas of high communist party support such as Gunungkidul, the intensity of violence varied significantly due to a combination of factors both internal (political tension and local perpetrators) and external (the armed forces) to the region.