Indonesia’s 1965-66 Mass Killings: 60 Years of Impunity Still Demand Justice

Indonesia’s 1965-66 Mass Killings: 60 Years of Impunity Still Demand Justice
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Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called for justice regarding Indonesia’s 1965-1966 mass killings, noting that 60 years after the atrocities, the lack of accountability continues to fuel human rights violations in the country.

The massacres began in October 1965 after a failed coup attempt led to a brutal purge by the army and its supporters against suspected members and sympathizers of the Communist Party of Indonesia. Amid the backdrop of the Cold War, the military onslaught led by General Soeharto resulted in the imprisonment of an estimated one million people and the killing or execution of at least 500,000 people. General Soeharto subsequently replaced President Sukarno and ruled for the next 33 years.

HRW highlights that no one has ever been held accountable for the mass killings. While former President Joko Widodo had promised reparations via a “non-judiciary mechanism” in 2023, Bedjo Untung of the 1965 Murder Victims Research Foundation told HRW that no survivor or family has been able to obtain a court decision to document their suffering.

Since President Prabowo Subianto Djojohadikusumo took office in October 2024, his government has sought to rewrite the history of the anti-communist violence. HRW emphasized that this enduring impunity for the crimes of 1965-66 continues to reverberate, calling on the Prabowo government to meaningfully work toward delivering justice, as “Sixty years isn’t too late.”