60 years ago, Lieutenant General Suharto and the Army under his command began the massacre and extermination of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). The reason was that the PKI was accused of carrying out the murder of several of Army generals and a coup against the Indonesian government.
This massacre and extermination was carried out in a cruel, inhumane manner, targeting those who know nothing about the murder of the Army generals and even targeting civilians who were not affiliated with the PKI at all.
In 2012 the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) designated this incident as a gross human rights violation. Through a pro-judicial investigation, Komnas HAM concluded that the violations included murder, extermination, slavery, forced population transfer, arbitrary deprivation of liberty, torture, sexual violence, persecution and the forced disappearance of people, with reference to Article 7 of Law Number 26/2000 on Human Rights Courts.
We wish to highlight the absence of accountability by the state or substantive justice for victims 60 years on since the start of the 1965-66 affair.
Added to this is the academic research written by historians around the world that contradicts the official version of events. There have been at least 10 academic manuscripts written by researchers/historians: Jess Melvin, Robert Cribb, Bradley Simpson, John Roosa, Vincent Bevins as well as CIA admissions through declassified documents along with written testimonies from victims and members of the PKI who were successfully interviewed. There is also the discovery of 359 mass graves by the Institute for the Study of the 1965-66 Massacres (YPKP 65) which is new evidence which supports that what the PKI was accused of doing – carrying out the murder of the generals and a coup, is just New Order propaganda by Suharto's military fascist regime.
These crimes, which were actively committed by the state against its own citizens through direct actions and policies, left deep scars on the victims and their families, and became a dark record in the history of the Indonesian nation.
In fact, the crimes committed by the state did not just stop in 1966, but continue for decades. This is because of the arbitrary imprisonment without trial and slavery carried out by the state at various locations, such as Nusa Kambangan, Plantungan, Moncongloe, Tangerang, Tanjung Kaso Medan, Argosari East Kalimantan and Buru Island, continued until at least the end of the 1979 period.
Active discrimination and the marginalisation of survivors continues to be maintained, such as by placing ex-tapol (ET, former political prisoner) labels on survivors' identity cards and the doctrine of "Clean Yourself, Clean Environment" which then becomes the basis for limiting survivors' access to things such as access to work. In various regions, "active surveillance" efforts are still ongoing by security forces, both the Army and police, against former political prisoners from the 1965 affair.
These actions are an attempt to destroy and terrorise citizens even though they have been declared free. Victims also have to face long-term consequences and losses due to the confiscation of their property rights to things such as land and houses. This situations causes victims to experience repeated victimisation or become victims for a second time because their rights to live a decent life, to develop and to live with a sense of security are also taken away.
Crimes also befell those who were abroad through the revocation of their citizenship so that they were unable to return to their homeland and had to live on the move without legal protection for years.
The state continued to maintain the propaganda of hatred and false narratives by showing the film "Pengkhianatan G30S/PKI" (Treachery of the September 30 Movement/Indonesian Communist Party) every year in schools since 1984, thus maintaining the stigma against survivors. Even after the fall of Suharto, the Butcher General, from the seat of power in 1998, the state has still not straightened out the historical narrative or provided comprehensive reparation for the victims.
Referring to the national legal system, namely the Law on Human Rights Courts, the legal process to address the 1965-66 affair actually started with a pro-judicial investigation carried out by Komnas HAM. However, investigations and follow-up actions have not been carried out by the Attorney General in accordance with their duties as regulated under Article 21 of the Law on Human Rights Courts. Apart from the deadlock in the judicial process, an independent, transparent, comprehensive and pro-victim disclosure of the truth regarding the affair has also never been carried out by the state.
Yet the international human rights regime acknowledges that victims, their families and the public in general have the right to know and the right to the truth regarding the incidents of serious human rights violations. Even the conclusion by the International People's Tribunal (IPT 1965) (which is based on national law, international law and a number of jurisprudence and international legal precedents) that crimes against humanity and genocide occurred during the events of 1965-66, was also not enough to push the state to accept accountability.
When cases are not resolved and state accountability is not been implemented, the state returns to emasculating the rights of its citizens. We seem to have returned to the dark days of the events of 1965-66, which became the basis for the establishment and functioning of the New Order authoritarian regime under Suharto's leadership. The arbitrary arrests and detentions, forced disappearances, torture, confiscation of books and the haphazard use of the label anarchist that is currently taking place, show symptoms of the authoritarianism that occurred during the New Order era.
The pattern of hunting down of people by the state today is also similar to that carried out by the state during the 1965-66 affair, namely hunting down and charging people with criminal acts based on association. This repression of critical voices and people's aspirations is nothing less than a repetition of past state crimes. This repetition is occurring because, among other things, there was never a comprehensive and substantive resolution regarding the events of 1965-66.
"If crimes equivalent to the Holocaust are not processed legally, it is not surprising that Indonesian security and law enforcement officials consider human extermination in the 20th century to be normal", said the late Harry Wibowo, the coordinator of the IPT 1965 Association.
Therefore we are urging that:
1. The Komnas HAM to conduct another/follow-up investigation in connection with the discovery of confessions by alleged perpetrators as well as new evidence from 2012 to the present regarding crimes against humanity and/or crimes of genocide in 1965-66, including identifying and investigating hundreds of mass graves in various remote areas/regions in various districts/cities related to these serious crimes;
2. The Komnas HAM and the Attorney General improve coordination to encourage the continuation of the legal process through to the criminal investigation stage in accordance with Law Number 26/2000 on Human Rights Courts, including by protecting mass grave sites in accordance with international standard procedures regarding the excavation, investigation and memorialisation of mass graves;
3. Ministry of Culture to stop whitewashing the events of 1965-66 and straighten out the historical narrative regarding the events of 1965-66;
4. The government to fulfil victims' rights comprehensively and substantively by fully involving victims in formulating policies for fulfilling their rights as guaranteed under Law Number 13/2006 on the Protection of Witnesses and Victims and Law Number 31/2014 on Revision of Law Number 13/2006; and
5. The government to stop all forms of surveillance or terror against victims and their families, because victims have the right to security guarantees and protection by the state from all forms of persecution carried out by both state officials and fellow citizens.
October 6, 2025
1. Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras)
2. International People's Tribunal 1965 Association (IPT 65)
3. Institute for the Study of the 1965-1966 Massacres (YPKP 65)
4. Watch 65
5. The Minggu Pon Association (Pagupon)
6. Women's Progress (KIPPER)
7. Human Rights Education and Struggle Forum (FOPPERHAM)
– Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras)
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "60 Tahun Peristiwa 1965-1966: Keadilan Tak Kunjung Datang, Kejahatan Justru Berulang!".]