How Survivors of the 1965-66 Politicide Remember the Years Before 1965

• In Event: A Lost World: The Indonesian Left before the 1965-66 Politicide

Abstract

To understand the left-wing movements in Indonesia’s postcolonial history, from the proclamation of independence in 1945 to the politicide of 1965, a historian needs to consult, apart from the sources produced during that period, the interviews and autobiographical writings of the survivors. These interviews and first-person texts have become more numerous since the fall of Suharto in 1998. But how should one interpret such sources? How have the survivors’ post-1965 experiences shaped what they say or write about their experiences before 1965?

The survivors, in the face of ongoing intimidation and stigmatization, have found it difficult to be open and candid in narrating their pre-1965 political activities. Their public presentations have not necessarily accorded with their private sentiments. Many survivors have tended to disavow or downplay their connections to the communist party and other left organizations prior to 1965.

This paper, based on fifteen years of conversing and corresponding with a variety of survivors, presents some of the themes that have been underrepresented in their public expressions. The left movement provided many of them positive, even beautiful, experiences. With so many meetings, conferences, informal schools, performances, marches, and volunteer labor projects, those involved in the movement felt connected with many other people in their society and in other areas of the world. Those from poor and illiterate families felt that they were gaining more power and knowledge. For many activists, their earlier dreams of revolution have been as difficult to renounce as they have been to articulate.

Author

• John Roosa, University of British Columbia