The act of remembering this tragedy is unequivocally linked to present-day Indonesia where – due to the persistent impunity for the state crimes of the past – political repression, fear and militarisation are again creeping into society. All the sessions took place in the exhibition space in the art gallery Framer Framed, where an art exhibition was being held that engaged with the events of 1965.

Session 1: Cross-border solidarity: the case of Komitee Indonesië

The first session, on 17 September, focused on international solidarity, specifically, solidarity with the resistance against Soeharto by the Amsterdam-based Komitee Indonesië (KI). KI was one of the solidarity groups which thrived in the Netherlands during those years, and which supported resistance movements in the global south against imperialism and neo-colonialism.

The session opened with the documentary film Across Border. The film consists of interviews with former KI-activists and a selection of archive material from the Institute of Social History (IISG).  The discussion centred around the exchange of experiences of young activists protesting present-day local to international issues regarding injustices, (state) violence and genocide, with those of the KI activists. What can be learned from protest actions in the past? Why is international solidarity important and how does it take shape? How can you turn individual indignation into collective action?

Moderated by Ward Berenschot (UvA, KITLV), the panel hosted three former coordinators of KI: Welmoed Koekebakker, Fridus Steijlen and Yvette Lawson, alongside Gde Arka and Jarna Mansur, two activists from the exile community. The audience – approximately 150 – comprised of exiles and some of their family members,  Indonesia experts, persons interested in Indonesia, historians and some other academics, artists, life-long activists, Indonesian students and at least twenty UvA students of several nationalities.

Session 2: Against the state’s single history: a conversation with Indonesian exiles

In this session, on 19 September, exiles in the Netherlands shed light on the various attempts to achieve truth and justice for the victims and survivors of the mass atrocities committed by the Indonesian state since 1965. The focus was on the International People’s Tribunal 1965, held in The Hague in 2015. The Tribunal sent a strong message to the Indonesian state that was held responsible for nine crimes in the years that followed 1965 – yet until today none of the recommendations have been followed by the Indonesian state.

On the panel were three first-generation exiles: Sungkono, Tatiana Lukman and Aminah Idris. The panel was moderated by Ratna Saptari. Sungkono referred to the IPT1965 as the most significant justice initiative undertaken by civil society. The Indonesian government clearly ignored it until in 2022 president Jokowi rolled out a non-judicial solution to settle twelve cases of serious human rights violations of the past, including the one of 1965. Tatiana Lukman emphasized that since the rule of the New Order regime of Soeharto, brutal and barbaric violence has become part and parcel of how the police and the military deal with people’s resistance against injustices. Aminah Idris, the third speaker, dwelled upon her own story of how she was deprived of her Indonesian nationality when she studied in Bulgaria, recalling how the exiles, including herself, were forced to leave that country after it changed its political course.

Session 3: Moving memories: countering historical silences, narrating archives of the Indonesian Left

The final session, also on 19 September, moderated by Yatun Sastramidjaja (UvA), was the public launching of GerakIngatan, an archive-based website on the Indonesian Left movement. Gerakingatan has compiled twenty collections and produced thirteen online exhibits. The idea is to bring to life otherwise silent documents, kept in the archives of major social history institutions in the Netherlands, through narratives.

GerakIngatan was introduced by Rika Theo, archivist at the IISG. The audience was given a glimpse of the stories of men and women in their anti-colonial and anti-fascist struggles, the oppression and violence they had experienced, and their resilience. The second speaker, joining online from Indonesia, was Ita Fatia Nadia, an activist-historian based in Jogjakarta, who elaborated on the memory projects she initiated. During her long-time engagement with communities of survivors and exiles she has collected and archived many stories.

Overall, the commemoration was a success. Beyond raising awareness of the atrocities of 1965 and its lasting consequences, the exhibition and panel discussions reawakened the spirit of international – as well as intergenerational – solidarity.