Indonesia: The death toll of the massacre 1965/1966
Call for Support by the Indonesian Institute for the Study of 1965/1966 Massacre (2001)
INDONESIA: Political prisoners record their experiences
JAKARTA — April 15, 2000, marked the first anniversary of the establishment of an extraordinary organisation, the Indonesian Institute for the Study of 1965-1966 Massacre (YPKP).
Its chairperson is Sulami, who was second secretary-general of Gerwani (the Indonesian Women's Movement) when the dreadful repression began on October 1, 1965. She spent 20 years in prison, 13 in solitary confinement, without even specific charges being made against her, let alone a conviction. Among the co-founders is the noted writer and former political prisoner Pramoedya Ananta Toer.
Burning with a desire to expose the crimes committed against themselves and millions of other Indonesians, Sulami and many former political prisoners ("ex-tapols") have decided that the years of enforced silence and discrimination must be broken. They have begun a concerted effort to document the killings, disappearances, tortures, rapes, inhuman and unjustified imprisonments, sackings, seizures and destruction of property that took place in 1965-66, and the years of discrimination and harassment that followed, even up to this day.
Forty ex-tapols gathered outside Jakarta from April 5-15 for a 10-day research training workshop. They were joined by a number of their children and even grandchildren, as well as others who wish to support their project.