Indonesia is still afraid to look into the mirror and face its bloody past

As a tribunal into Indonesia’s 1965 purges opens in The Hague, Indonesians are still waiting on a comprehensive, rational response from our own government

In 1965, Kadmiyati was a young student teacher who enjoyed the arts living in Bantul, a small district outside of Yogyakarta. On 10 October, along with her brother and father, Kadmiyati was rounded up by the military and brought to the district military headquarters with about 10 of her neighbours. She thinks herself lucky – she was only detained for a few months. A year later she was again arrested, interrogated and tortured.

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