The smell of burning books

For the millions of relatives of the dead, the pain of loss was accompanied by continued suffering: many were imprisoned; most were discriminated against. There has been no justice. For these Indonesians, “accepted truths” are half truths or blatant lies.

In 2000, a group of them formed the Indonesian Institute for the Study of the 1965-1966 Massacre (YPKP). YPKP’s first project was to exhume graves in Situkpup forest in the Wonosobo region of Central Java. There, where the peace of the forest had been so terribly disturbed in 1966, the forensic team unearthed 26 skeletons, which were sent to a hospital in Jogjakarta for identification.

Seven families in the area had told YPKP that they wanted to reclaim their dead and rebury them according to custom and with proper rituals, to place them side by side with other dead family members. The other skeletons were to be reburied on land provided by Irawan Mangunkusomo, who had been head of the local village of Kaloran and member of the House of Representatives before being caught up in the post-coup dragnet and sent to the prison-island of Nusa-Kambangan.

Two days before the planned reburial in March 2001, the organisers met with local officials who warned them that the ceremony should not become “too demonstrative”. So YPKP arranged a low-key event, multi-faith, with prayers said by Muslim, Christian and Buddhist priests.

It did not happen. Early in the morning, Mangunkusumo’s house was surrounded by members of an Islamic group vowing to stop the reburial. A vehicle was burnt and the house damaged. Later, two vehicles attempted to leave with the seven bodies to be given a family reburial. They were attacked. One got through, but the five coffins in the other vehicle were dragged out, broken into, and the bones strewn on the ground.

After the desecration, the mob around Mangunkusumo’s house built up to several thousand. They circled it, brandishing parangs and knives and shouting “Death to Irawan” and “Irawan PKI”.

Ugly forces breed in the dark.

All nations need to face their histories. Post-war Germany did, though there is still denial in Japan - and for that matter, a reluctance in Australia to acknowledge the present day consequences of the dispossession of the Aborigines.

By burning books the Indonesia Government is playing with fire.