INSTITUT TEKNOLOGI SEPULUH NOPEMBER

ANSWER SHEET
ASSIGNMENT

Name : Maria Valentia

NRP : 5019201046
Class : Pancasila 10
Lecture : Banu Prasetyo, S.Fil., M.Phil.
Assignment :2

Two Sides of a Coin : A Moral Dilemma in Indonesian Historical Records

When we have to look back at the “wounds'' of the September 30 movement,

there are various perspectives on the story that we can dissect. Some of those
involved in the story are still scared, some don't even know why this such event
occurs in their life. Until now, there are still some parties who have not received
certainty or responsibility for the events they experienced. Therefore, to see the
existing series of events, we must be able to look at existing data and facts.
The September 30th Movement was widely known as one of Indonesian
darkest history. This incident is generally known as the kidnapping and killing act of
six generals and one Indonesian army soldier in the year of 1965. These generals
were shot and kidnapped in front of their families. Back on October 1st 1965, when
the generals were missing, Soeharto was appointed to fill the vacant Indonesian
Army leadership. By then, Soeharto was the man who took control of the Indonesian
Army and led the search for the missing general. He was mandated to be the
Commander of the restoration of security and order, from there he took de facto over
Soekarno’s power. On the day the body of the missing generals was discovered, he
even gave the order directly to several doctors to do the autopsy.
In that era, mass media and press freedom rights were suppressed. For
public accounts of the seven deaths, we today, like Indonesian readers in 1965,
must rely largely on the reporting of two military newspapers, Angkatan Bersendjata
(The Armed Forces) and Berita Yudha (War News), and the ABRI information
service that supplied them. Given the fact that the two newspapers were morning
newspapers, and thus their October 5 editions were probably "put to bed" while the
doctors were still completing their examinations, it is not surprising that their
reporting that day was perhaps hasty, without the benefit of detailed information
(People & Indonesia, 2016). The Angkatan Bersendjata News somehow feature a
blurred picture of the decomposing body of the generals and the Berita Yudha News
reported that the corpses were covered with indication of torture, such as, smashed
skull, gouged out eyes, and sliced genitals. This report was used to make a so-called
documentary film, “Pengkhianatan G30S/PKI”, which is obligated to watch every
year. The atrocities described and the propaganda occured, obviously aroused the
anger of the masses in Indonesia. This such anger and hatred was projected to the
PKI (Indonesian Communist Party), whom the government and military accused
guilty. The Partai Komunis Indonesia (PKI, Indonesian Communist Party) and leftist
organizations were banned; relations with China were severed, those with the Union
of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) were reduced; and ties with Washington and
the Western world intensified(Boden, 2007).
After the event, the with raising hatred towards PKI grows in Indonesia,
everything and everyone affiliated with the party will be “diminished”. On the Final
report of the IPT 1965, there were reported such action which are mass killing,
imprisontment, enslavement, torture, sexual violence, exile, propaganda campaign,
and genocide. This case has been taken to the international media and being an
international case of crime against humanity. Estimates of the number of people who
died range from 100,000 to 2 million people. There is such a wide range of estimates
because there was little record keeping at the time and noserious attempt afterwards
to reconstruct what had happened (McGregor, 2009). To date, there is no definite
data that contains the number of PKI massacre victims at that time but Sarwo Edhie
Wibowo, the man who led the 1965 Movement said that there were nearly 3.000.000
PKI was “being taken care of”.
After the rezime was turned down, in the Reformation era, reports of the 1965
autopsy were released. What do the forensic experts' reports of October 5 tell us?
First, and most important, that none of the victims' eyes had been gouged out, and
that all of their penises were intact: we are even told that four of the latter were
circumcised, and three uncircumcised. (People & Indonesia, 2016). This new
discovered data left all Indonesian in question. Why did the report in 1965 show a
whole different picture and even tell that the late generals were being tortured
"obscenely”? Until now, an important part of the affair remains unresolved. As far as
is known, the events of 1965 were related to a struggle for influence between the
major Indonesian power elites: the president, the armed forces, and the PKI. (Boden,
2007)
Having this particular history may lead to confusion for us as Indonesian who
were born in the late 1990s or early 2000s. The time when we go to school, the
“Pengkhianatan G30S/PKI'' is not obligated to watch anymore. We don’t go through
the situation and not to mention, at the new order era, many victims, both from the
family of the generals, the doctors who did the autopsy, or even the children of
accused PKI were all silenced. Even some of them were prosecuted and imprisoned.
Seeing the case from a different sides, we all agreed that the crime of killing
Indonesian Army Forces are immoral and inexcusable. It needs to be proceeded in
accordance with the applicable law and order. However, is it worth the millions of
Indonesian lives that were spilled? Some who are unrelated to political issues, or
didn’t even know what communist ideology is.
In the modern era of Indonesia, we need the reconciliation act to be done. We
don’t need any other accusation of who is the real victim because all of us do. We
are the victim of history misconception and propaganda. We have to forget the
revenge of the past and make history itself a lesson for the journey of our nation.
Releasing negative stigmas against one party and the other. And of course,
acknowledging and providing an objective historical picture for future generations of
the nation.

Reference:
Boden, R. (2007). The “Gestapu” events of 1965 in Indonesia: New evidence from Russian
and German archives. Bijdragen Tot de Taal-, Land- En Volkenkunde, 163(4), 507–
528. https://doi.org/10.1163/22134379-90003693
McGregor, K. E. (2009). Violence de masse et Résistance - Réseau de recherche THE
INDONESIAN KILLINGS OF 1965-1966. SciencePo. http://bo-k2s.sciences-po.fr/mass-
violence-war-massacre-resistance/fr/document/indonesian-killings-1965-1966
People, I., & Indonesia, H. (2016). FINAL REPORT OF THE IPT 1965 (Issue July).
https://uprdoc.ohchr.org/uprweb/downloadfile.aspx?filename=3651&file=CoverPage