Vaudine England, Jakarta – "In Indonesia, silence often speaks louder than words ... You have a nation of silenced voices and muted expressions."

So writes John McGlynn, editor-in-chief of Jakarta's Lontar publishing foundation, in a collection launched last night of writings by former political prisoners, alleged communists and intellectuals.

Hidden among the poetry, photographs and even a libretto are items such as I, the Accused, part of the defence statement of former colonel Abdul Latief, an insider during the 1965 coup attempt that brought former president Suharto to power.

There are also gruelling first-hand accounts of the Dili massacre in East Timor, and a dramatisation of the rape, torture and murder of Javanese labour activist Marsinah.

In Indonesia, where the unravelling of former president Suharto's repressive rule has raised hopes of new freedoms, such literary efforts have political significance.

Many of those involved are consciously exposing and debating the events and attitudes that shape current political instability – such as the 1965 coup, the subsequent murder of perhaps half a million people, along with the demonisation of communism and the Chinese.

Many of these writers also believe that only when all sides can freely discuss past traumas will the country be able to even consider things such as democracy and the rule of law.

For now, they have a president, Abdurrahman Wahid, who supports such moves and has insisted that decrees banning the study of communism be lifted. Parliament, and especially the Islamist political parties often aligned against him, refuses to countenance such a notion, saying communism remains a threat to the state. Many power-holders are fearful of what revelations may appear to shatter views of the recent past or of their own standing.

Frank Stewart – the University of Hawaii editor of the Manoa literary journal, which published the new writings under the title Silenced Voices – notes that laws still give the Government arbitrary powers to ban books, censor the media and arrest authors.

The authors featured "are united by their resistance to a government-enforced amnesia, their search for the truth, and their outspokenness on such banned topics as religion, sexuality and politics", he says.

Colonel Latief, for example, spent 30 years in jail as a result of the 1965 coup attempt. Though sentenced to death by Suharto, he survived to see virtually anyone else involved in the mid- 1960s trauma die off or be killed. Only now can his story be published, replete with details about the maggots growing in a leg wound inflicted by arresting soldiers.

Similarly, a contribution by a Ms Sudjina revolves around her memories of three women with whom she shared some of her 17 years in jail after her arrest in 1967 by Suharto. Now 72, Ms Sudjina feels an urgent need to get these stories out before her generation dies and any hope of honest history is lost.

McGlynn said: "Not until today's young people have unlearned the ways of repression and a new generation has been educated to respect and defend its right to freedom of expression will true openness and democracy come to Indonesia."