My statement about the Indonesian presidents decision to make Sarwo Edhie Wibowo, architect of the 1965-66 genocide, an Indonesian ‘National Hero’: When we wrote the tagline for The Act of Killing, “when killers win, when killers become heroes”, it was not intended as a prediction. We were describing Indonesia as it is today. We hoped to catalyse a change in Indonesia and the world, encouraging people to see clearly through the lies, and to call mass murder for what it it is - namely, mass murder. Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has recently announced that in 2014 his government will make Lieutenant General Sarwo Edhie Wibowo (the president’s father-in-law) a national hero for his role in the extermination of the communists”. Overwhelming evidence - scholarly investigations, forensic investigations, the bottomless suffering of the survivors, the direct testimony of perpetrators, and an incalculable loss that continues to traumatise an entire society - makes it plain that the extermination of the communists” was not heroic, but a crime against humanity involving the murder of one million Indonesians. Sarwo Edhie Wibowo was one the architects of this crime. Anointing him a national hero is a statement to the entire world that Indonesia will continue to be a place of fear and thuggery, corruption and violence. For the victims and survivors, Indonesia is still living in the long shadow of the 1965 genocide. Stigma and discrimination continue. Justice recedes from grasp. Making Sarwo Edhie a national hero means that the 1965 genocide will continue to cast its dark shadow into the foreseeable future. For the past two years, we have hoped President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono would issue an official apology for the 1965-66 genocide. A state apology would be an essential first step toward justice - and one long overdue.
Posted on: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 18:55:37 +0000
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