by Enrico Aditjondro

Decades passed by the supposed G30S/PKI, but very little has been addressed to the victims of the killings of Indonesian Communist Party’s sympathisers, led by the then General Soeharto.

September 30, 2010, is the 45th anniversary of a coup which the Indonesian government completely blamed the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). On that coup, the government claimed the PKI, led by D.N. Aidit, killed the country’s top generals and mutilated their bodies. The latter claim has been largely rejected by many critics recently, but for years, state-sponsored films depicting the ‘cruelty’ of the PKI were forced upon school kids.

Last year, the Inside Indonesia magazine featured an extensive collection of articles which are still relevant to this day (pdf here).

Watch a series of videos by Nugroho Notosusanto, portraying the official version of the New Order propaganda on the 30th September Movement (Gerakan 30 September). The videos depict the coup as being orchestrated by the Communist Party of Indonesia (Partai Komunis Indonesia).

Watch a featured video on EngageMedia which depicts how the Soeharto anti-communist policies affected many people, including an artist hangout place in Jalan Tjidurian 19, Cikini, Central Jakarta.

In addition, the anti-communism crackdown also buried a beautiful song, Genjer Genjer, performed here by folk artist Tika.