Fed Up, Fired Up, Indonesia Workers Pledge Radical Protests

Faisal Maliki Baskoro | January 30, 2012

The mix of workers emboldened by recent labor victories and a fear of higher costs from the state’s plan to limit subsidized fuel consumption could spark more radical demonstrations in the future, union leaders say.

Timbul Siregar, chairman of the Indonesian Workers Association (OPSI), said on Sunday that workers were beginning to realize that radical organized protests were the key to accomplishing their objectives.

“Protesting in front of the mayor’s office or the State Palace is a thing of the past,” he said. “Workers have learned that the way to be heard is to shut down the country’s economic vein.”

PKI victims accuse Komnas HAM of delaying release of 1965 report

Tribune News - January 17, 2012

Nurmulia Rekso Purnomo, Jakarta -- Victims of human rights violations held a protest action on Tuesday January 17 demanding that the National Human Rights Commission (Komnas HAM) immediately announce the results of an investigation in to the 1965-66 affair. The action was held at the Komnas HAM offices in the Menteng area of Central Jakarta.

Sumarsih (80), the former chairperson of the Bojonegoro City Gerwani (Indonesian Women's Movement) branch in East Java in 1950 said she was disappointed with Komnas HAM because to this day they have not resolved the slaughter and expropriation of the rights of Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) members and people deemed to be linked to the party.

‘Systemic’ violations found in 1965 purge

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Wed, 01/18/2012 8:19 AM

Life of suffering: Victims of events in 1965 sing a protest song inside the National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) office in Jakarta on Tuesday. They and several rights activists asked Komnas HAM to reveal the results of its investigation into the gross human rights violations committed by the state during the 1965/1966 massacre, which the government blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party and its affiliates. Antara/Fanny Octavianus 

Afandi Saleh has been waiting for justice for 33 years after his release from Buru Island in 1979, where he was held for a decade without a trial for a crime he said he did not commit. 


The 73-year-old said he had little direct knowledge of his alleged offense: the murder of five Indonesian Army generals and one lieutenant at Lubang Buaya, East Jakarta, in 1965, perpetrated as part of a coup attempt by the now-defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).


“I happened to be at Lubang Buaya taking part in a military training held by the AURI [Indonesian Air Force]on orders from president Sukarno. I learned that the killings happened near our training facility on the radio soon after I got home,” Afandi said.