Behind a low wall on a traffic-choked stretch of Denpasar’s east side, a small courtyard insists that Bali’s famous “paradise” has a history. And that history is troubled.
On a brick wall is a simple injunction — “Forgive but never forget” — and in the center stands a white bust of a schoolteacher, I Gusti Made Raka, who was murdered in the wave of anti-communist killings that swept the island in late 1965 and early 1966. This is Taman 65, a family-made memorial built on the site of a home razed by a mob. With its punk DIY attitude, it is one of the most quietly radical public spaces in Indonesia today.
Taman 65 (“65 Park”) is not a state monument, and that is the point. There are no official memorials to the 500,000 to 1,000,000 Indonesians killed in a massive anti-communist bloodbath. Many more were imprisoned, tortured, and raped during Suharto’s New Order dictatorship, which began with a military coup fifty years ago today.
The events of September 30 and October 1, 1965, are very confusing. Unsolved mysteries remain. Essentially, there were two coups. First came an attack on the top Indonesian army leadership on the night of September 30, and then a slow-motion coup lasting until March 11, 1966, when General Suharto officially seized power from President Sukarno.
There are no official memorials to the 500,000 to 1,000,000 Indonesians killed in a massive anti-communist bloodbath.
In the first coup, six generals and a lieutenant were kidnapped and killed by a renegade faction within the military. While that putsch failed within…
Auteur: Michael G. Vann
