Collaboration in Mass Violence The Case of the Indonesian Anti Leftist Mass Killings in 1965 66 in East Java
The aim of this article is to examine further the concept of collaboration in genocide and mass killings through the case study of anti-communist mass killings in Indonesia in 1965–66. High degree of civilian involvement in the killings has misled to a conclusion that the state (in this case, the Indonesian army) did not have a significant role in the killings. The Indonesian state and some scholars interpret the violence as a result of horizontal conflict between the communists and religious or nationalist groups; or violence that could not be generated an overarching pattern, because in some areas the army took the lead, while in other areas, it was the civilians. This article examines the killings in East Java, one of the provinces with a high death toll. Previous studies in this province conclude that civilians were dominant in taking actions against the communists and leftists. However, this does not mean that the army did not have a significant role in the violence. Through the analysis of the newly-accessed East Java military (Kodam V Brawijaya) archives collection, this article will show that although mass killings were executed by civilians in early October 1965 in East Java, they became coordinated and systematic under the military command since mid-October 1965. Readings on the archives strongly show that the military structurally facilitated the violence, while on the other hand, civilians collaborate with the military to remove Indonesian leftists. The collaboration in East Java shows a structurally coordinated move to persecute the communists.
KETIMPANGAN DAN KONTINUITAS PATRONASE DALAM LINTASAN SEJARAH:
MENELUSURI SEJARAH PERUBAHAN AGRARIA DI MALANG SELATAN
Grace Leksana
(Doktor Universitas Leiden/ Royal Netherlands Institute of South East Asia and Carribean Studies (KITLV)/ Netherlands Institute for War, Genocide and Holocaust Studies)
*Artikel ini merupakan salah satu bab dari disertasi yang berjudul “Embedded Remembering: Memory Culture of 1965 Violence in East Java’s Agrarian Society”.
disertasi
“Embedded Remembering: Memory Culture of 1965 Violence in East Java’s Agrarian Society”.
This dissertation examines the dynamics of memory of violence in present-day society, by zooming in to memory of the anti-communist violence in Indonesia in 1965. The problem starts with the contrasting narrative about this particular event. On the one hand, the national narrative by the state commemorates the death of six generals and one low rank army officer during the September 30th Movement or Gerakan 30 September 1965/ G30S. The military accused the Indonesian Communist Party or Partai Komunis Indonesia/ PKI as the mastermind behind the movement. The movement was followed by a regime shift from Sukarno to Suharto in 1966. On the other hand, this new regime initiated a nation-wide purge against communists, leftists, and their affiliates in 1965-66 and in 1968 in some parts of East Java. This violent bloodbath continued to be excluded from Indonesia’s national historiography until today. They became the counter-narrative.This dissertation goes beyond this binary approach of state versus counter narrative. Through a case study in rural area of Donomulyo district in East Java, this research discovered that memories of violence are multi-layered. They are not exclusively determined by the repressive memory project of the state, but are actually embedded in social relations and local context where the violence occurred. Moreover, this case study shows that memories of violence did not diminish over time, not even under state repression. Narratives of violence travel within communities through stories of places, or sites of memory, and also through family narratives.
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https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/handle/1887/92258
