[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 173 (Tuesday, December 1, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8235-S8236]
RECOGNIZING PAST CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY IN INDONESIA
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, the realignment toward Asia has focused our
attention on partnerships with countries in the region. We share
political, economic, security, and humanitarian interests, creating
complex and multidimensional relationships. But our commitment to the
protection and promotion of human rights must continue to be a
foundation for our relations with these countries, as with others
around the world. We must continue to advocate for open societies where
dialogue and dissent are encouraged and where security forces are
professional and accountable. At the same time, we cannot ignore
history.
Fifty years ago, under the guise of a state-sanctioned Communist
purge, hundreds of thousands of Indonesian men, women, and children
were murdered. Many more were rounded up and led to concentration camps
where they were imprisoned, and many were tortured by the security
forces of a dictatorial and brutal regime that had the backing of the
United States. It has been widely recognized as one of the worst mass
atrocities of the 20th century, but efforts to establish a truth and
reconciliation commission to come to terms with these crimes have
stalled at every turn. The atrocities are still not recognized or
discussed by the Indonesian Government, and the perpetrators were long
celebrated as heroes for their actions.
The United States should lead by example in acknowledging this tragic
history and reaffirm that human rights are at the forefront of our
strategic relationships in Indonesia and beyond. As the most senior
member of the Appropriations Committee, I have supported conditions on
foreign assistance, including requiring recipient countries to protect
freedoms of expression and association, respect the rule of law and due
process, reform their judicial systems and security forces, and
strengthen other key elements of a democratic society.
Through the ``Leahy Law,'' I have sought to encourage reform of
Indonesia's military and police forces, promote cooperation with
civilian authorities, and hold human rights violators accountable. I
have also supported efforts to demilitarize West Papua and stop the
human rights violations associated with the militarization of that
island.
Unfortunately, while Indonesia has made important economic and
political strides since the systemic repression of the Suharto years,
impunity for the horrific crimes of the 1960s and during the final
years of the independence struggle in East Timor remain glaring
examples of unfinished business that are inconsistent with a democratic
society based on the principle that no one is above the law.
We need to recognize the role of our own government in this history,
declassify relevant documents, and urge the Indonesian Government to
acknowledge the massacres and establish a credible truth and justice
mechanism.
I ask unanimous consent that a poignant opinion piece on this subject
that was published in the New Yorker on September 29, 2015, be printed
in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in
the Record, as follows:
[From the New Yorker, Sept. 29, 2015]
Suharto's Purge, Indonesia's Silence
(By Joshua Oppenheimer)
This week marks the 50th anniversary of the beginning of a
mass slaughter in Indonesia. With American support, more than
500,000 people were murdered by the Indonesian Army and its
civilian death squads. At least 750,000 more were tortured
and sent to concentration camps, many for decades.
The victims were accused of being ``communists,'' an
umbrella that included not only members of the legally
registered Communist Party, but all likely opponents of
Suharto's new military regime--from union members and women's
rights activists to teachers and the ethnic Chinese. Unlike
in Germany, Rwanda or Cambodia, there have been no trials, no
truth-and-reconciliation commissions, no memorials to the
victims. Instead, many perpetrators still hold power
throughout the country.
Indonesia is the world's fourth most populous nation, and
if it is to become the democracy it claims to be, this
impunity must end. The anniversary is a moment for the United
States to support Indonesia's democratic transition by
acknowledging the 1965 genocide, and encouraging a process of
truth, reconciliation and justice.
On Oct. 1, 1965, six army generals in Jakarta were killed
by a group of disaffected junior officers. Maj. Gen. Suharto
assumed command of the armed forces, blamed the killings on
the leftists, and set in motion a killing machine. Millions
of people associated with left-leaning organizations were
targeted, and the nation dissolved into terror--people even
stopped eating fish for fear that fish were eating corpses.
Suharto usurped President Sukarno's authority and established
himself as de facto president by March 1966. From the very
beginning, he enjoyed the full support of the United States.
I've spent 12 years investigating the terrible legacy of
the genocide, creating two documentary films, ``The Act of
Killing'' in 2013 and ``The Look of Silence,'' released
earlier this year. I began in 2003, working with a family of
survivors. We wanted to show what it is like to live
surrounded by still-powerful perpetrators who had murdered
your loved ones.
The family gathered other survivors to tell their stories,
but the army warned them not to participate. Many survivors
urged me not to give up and suggested that I film
perpetrators in hopes that they would reveal details of the
massacres.
I did not know if it was safe to approach the killers, but
when I did, I found them open. They offered boastful accounts
of the killings, often with smiles on their faces and in
front of their grandchildren. I felt I had wandered into
Germany 40 years after the Holocaust, only to find the Nazis
still in power.
Today, former political prisoners from this era still face
discrimination and threats. Gatherings of elderly survivors
are regularly attacked by military-backed thugs.
Schoolchildren are still taught that the ``extermination of
the communists'' was heroic, and that victims' families
should be monitored for disloyalty. This official history, in
effect, legitimizes violence against a whole segment of
society.
The purpose of such intimidation is to create a climate of
fear in which corruption and plunder go unchallenged.
Inevitably in such an atmosphere, human rights violations
have continued since 1965, including the 1975-1999 occupation
of East Timor, where enforced starvation contributed to the
killing of nearly a third of the population, as well as
torture and extrajudicial killing that go on in West Papua
today.
Military rule in Indonesia formally ended in 1998, but the
army remains above the law. If a general orders an entire
village massacred, he cannot be tried in civilian courts. The
only way he could face justice is if the army itself convenes
a military tribunal, or if Parliament establishes a special
human rights court--something it has never done fairly and
effectively. With the military not subject to law, a shadow
state of paramilitaries and intelligence agencies has formed
around it. This shadow state continues to intimidate the
public into silence while, together with its business
partners, it loots the national wealth.
Indonesia can hold regular elections, but if the laws do
not apply to the most powerful elements in society, then
there is no rule of law, and no genuine democracy. The
country will never become a true democracy until it takes
serious steps to end impunity. An essential start is a
process of truth, reconciliation and justice.
This may still be possible. The Indonesian media, which
used to shy from discussing the genocide, now refers to the
killings as crimes against humanity, and grassroots activism
has taken hold. The current president, Joko Widodo, indicated
he would address the 1965 massacre, but he has not
established a truth commission, issued a national apology, or
taken any other steps to end the military's impunity.
We need truth and accountability from the United States as
well. U.S. involvement dates at least to an April 1962
meeting between American and British officials resulting in
the decision to ``liquidate'' President Sukarno, the
populist--but not communist--founding father of Indonesia. As
a founder of the nonaligned movement, Sukarno favored
socialist policies; Washington wanted to replace him with
someone more deferential to Western strategic and commercial
interests.
The United States conducted covert operations to
destabilize Sukarno and strengthen the military. Then, when
genocide broke out, America provided equipment, weapons and
money. The United States compiled lists containing thousands
of names of public figures likely to oppose the new military
regime, and handed them over to the Indonesian military,
presumably with the expectation that they would be killed.
Western aid to Suharto's dictatorship, ultimately amounting
to tens of billions of dollars, began flowing while corpses
still clogged Indonesia's rivers. The American media
celebrated Suharto's rise and his campaign of death. Time
magazine said it was the ``best news for years in Asia.''
But the extent of America's role remains hidden behind a
wall of secrecy: C.I.A. documents and U.S. defense attach
papers remain classified. Numerous Freedom of Information Act
requests for these documents have been denied. Senator Tom
Udall, Democrat of New Mexico, will soon reintroduce a
resolution that, if passed, would acknowledge America's role
in the atrocities, call for declassification of all relevant
documents, and urge the Indonesian government to acknowledge
the massacres and establish a truth commission. If the U.S.
government recognizes the genocide publicly, acknowledges its
[[Page S8236]]
role in the crimes, and releases all documents pertaining to
the issue, it will encourage the Indonesian government to do
the same.
This anniversary should be a reminder that although we want
to move on, although nothing will wake the dead or make whole
what has been broken, we must stop, honor the lives
destroyed, acknowledge our role in the destruction, and allow
the healing process to begin.
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