Justice for Victims of the Rawagede Massacre

After Japan surrendered to the Allied Forces at the end of the World War II, on 17 August 1945, people of the former Dutch colony in South East Asia declared the independence of the Republic of Indonesia.

In spite of this fact, the Dutch Armed Forces wanted to re-conquer said former colony, for which purpose they tried every efforts, including mass murder of hundreds even thousands of Indonesian people.

One of the bloodiest massacre took place on 9 December 1947 in Rawagede (now called Balongsari) a village located between Karawang and Bekasi, West Java, where the Dutch killed 431 innocent people.

In the past I would think that the Rawagede Massacre would remain a mystery, and those responsible would not be touched by the laws, just like the Westerling Massacre in Sulawesi, or victims of Nazi massacre in Europe. Especially that the Indonesian government doesn't seem to support this action.

That's why I was pessimistic when I read that 10 widows of the victims of the Rawagede Massacre initiated legal action against the Netherlands on 10 September 2008.

But thank God, I was very happy when I read on The Jakarta Globe and the blog of Dutch blogger Colson that last Wednesday, 14 September, a Dutch Court has ruled that the Netherlands must pay compensation to seven of the widows (the other three widows died while waiting for the verdict).

I hope this success would inspire the families of victims of other mysterious killings, such as people who died after the 30 September 1965 tragedy, and/or Trisakti University students and others who were killed after the Reformasi on May 1998, and/or the killing of Munir, to initiate legal actions against anyone allegedly responsible for those killings.

Of course it would not be easy considering that it has been very long time, therefore witnesses and/or evidences might not be available anymore, but who knows ?

11 March 1966

11 March, is a very important date for Indonesia, because on this date forty years ago the late President Soekarno handed over power to Minister of the Army Leutnant General Soeharto.

According to the official version during the Soeharto era that ended on 20 May 1998, Soekarno hand over power by signing a letter dated 11 March 1966 prepared by Soeharto's staff, giving the following instructions  to Soeharto :

1)  To act for and on behalf of President Soekarno in taking whatever necessary to ensure the security, peace and stability of the government and the revolution, and to ensure the safety and authority of Soekarno and his doctrine;
2)  To Coordinate implementation of this instruction with the other Commanders in the Armed Forces;
3)  To report everything related to the above mentioned authorities and responsibilities;

From that day, the above mentioned power transition letter was popularly names as Surat Perintah Sebelas Maret a.k.a SUPER SEMAR.

Considering that according to the 1945 Constitution, such transition of power can only be conducted by the People's Consultative Assembly (MPR), in 1967, a plenary session of a Temporary MPR (MPRS) was held to appoint Soeharto as Acting President, and then Permanent President on 11 March 1968.
For details, please click here and here.

The very strange thing was that that the original letter has seemingly vanished into the thin air, especially after Soeharto and the three Army Brigadier Generals who brought the letter to Soekarno in Bogor Palace at that time i.e. Muhammad Yusuf, Amir Mahmud and Basoeki Rahmat have all passed away.

Nevertheless, for the sake of Indonesia's historical truthness I hope that there will be an open investigation on what really happened to the original letter.

Image :  Courtesy of Detik.

The Armed Forces Day

Before the democratic reform took place in Indonesia on May 1998, I always have mixed feelings on the armed forces.

On the one hand, I was aware that Indonesia needs a strong armed forces to protect and defend sovereignty from any attacks by foreign or domestic enemies. And the fact shows that since our independence the armed forces has played leading role in driving away enemy attacks.
On the other hand, I am very sick and tired of the dominant roles of the military officials in almost every thing that goes on in Indonesia, in which they were used as a tool by the authoritarian regime at that time to maintain power.

10 years after the reform, the armed forces’ role in civilian life has decreased significantly, and civilians played most of the major roles in society.
However, the demilitarization process has gone too far, for example drastic cuts in budget has unable the armed forces to maintain their equipments causing frequent air crashes killing many well and expensively trained officers.

Today, 5 October, the armed forces celebrate its 64th anniversary, and I hope that the government, the parliament and every one in Indonesia would realize that we need a strong armed forces to protect and defend our country and people, therefore obviously we should treat them properly and provide them with what they need so that they can do their job properly.

LONG LIVE THE INDONESIAN ARMED FORCES!