The government will not apologize to the victims of the 1965 communist purge and instead will focus on reconciliation, said Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan.
According to Luhut, the government is currently looking for a suitable reconciliation format in accordance with Indonesia's recent condition.
He added that the reconciliation process would not be easy, especially since most of the historical figures had died. "What we need to do right now is keep [the victims'] children and grandchildren [safe] from being burdened by history," said Luhut on Wednesday as quoted by tempo.co.
In addition to the 1965 purge of members and sympathizers of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), there are still several severe human rights-related cases that have not yet been resolved, including the 1984 Tanjung Priok tragedy, the 1989 clash in Lampung, the disappearance of political activists between 1997 and 1998, the 1998 Triksati shootings, the May 1998 riots and the 1998 Semanggi 1 and 2 incidents.
President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo has established a reconciliation team to resolve some of the alleged violations of human rights. (kes)