Jakarta – GP Anshor, the youth wing of Indonesia's Nahdlatul Ulama (NU), has said that the government should not deliver a public apology to the victims of the 1965 purge.

GP Anshor was present at the NU office in Central Jakarta on Wednesday to push the biggest Muslim organization to reject the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) recent findings on the 1965 purge, which declared that the systematic prosecution of alleged members of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) was a gross human rights violation.

GP Anshor chairman Nusron Wahid said that President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should not follow Komnas HAM's recommendation to deliver a public apology to the victims.

"The President must not be obliged to make a public apology to the victims and survivors from the 1965 coup because it would be a forced settlement. Reconciliation must take place naturally and righteously," he said.

Instead, Nusron attempted to remind Indonesian of the alleged hidden threat of communism in the country. "We ask all citizens to stay alert to the rise of ideologies that are against Pancasila. There must not be any ideology allowed in the country but Pancasila," said Nusron, who arrived at the office with other mass organizations.

Responding to the groups, NU deputy chairman As'ad Said Ali said that all Indonesians should forget the 1965 purge. "PKI members killed many of NU's ulema. Yet, we never demanded [PKI members] be brought to trial for what they had done," he said. "It is better for us to forget and forgive what has happened in the past."

Last month, Komnas HAM announced that its had evidence that confirmed the systematic killings of suspected members of the PKI. Komnas HAM also said that military officials had also targeted innocent civilians during the operations, which took place across the nation.

Komnas HAM recommended that the government deliver a public apology to the victims and also that military officials who were involved in the purge be brought to trial. (lfr)