Jakarta – President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo led a ceremony to commemorate Pancasila Sanctity Day in Lubang Buaya, East Jakarta, on Saturday (01/10).

The annual ceremony commemorates the events surrounding the failed coup of Oct. 1, 1965 by the now-defunct Indonesian Communist Party, or PKI.

The ceremony, which started at 8.00 a.m. at the Pancasila Sakti Monument, was also attended Vice President Jusuf Kalla, ministers, and leaders of state institutions, among them People's Representative Council Speaker Zulkifli Hasan, House of Representatives Speaker Ade Komarudin and Regional Representatives Council Deputy Speaker Farouk Muhammad.

Commanding the ceremony was Col. Satryo Utomo of the Indonesian Air Force.

Six generals were assassinated by armed members of the PKI-affiliated 30 September Movement, or G30S. Former Army chief of staff Gen. A.H. Nasution, who was also targeted, escaped during an attack on his home in Menteng, Central Jakarta. However, his daughter Ade Irma Suryani was killed in the crossfire. Nasution's aide, First Lt. Pierre Andreas Tendean, took his place beside the six generals.

The abortive coup led to the government-sponsored and military-backed anticommunist purge of 1965-66, which resulted in the deaths of hundreds of thousands of alleged PKI sympathizers. Millions more were imprisoned without trial.

The government has promised to settle human rights abuses related to the purge, with its latest initiative being the staging of a national symposium earlier this year on what observers have called the worst mass killings of the 20th century.

Source: http://jakartaglobe.beritasatu.com/news/jokowi-leads-pancasila-sanctity-day-commemoration/