Press Release #KitaMerawatIngatan (#WePreserveMemory) Opposing National Hero Title to Soeharto and Stop Whitewashing The Sins of The New Order!

The Civil Society Coalition Against Impunity, comprising survivors, family victims of gross human rights violations, civil society organizations, and individuals from various backgrounds, today held a peaceful protest in front of The Ministry of Culture Building, Sudirman Street, Jakarta. This protest strongly rejects the discourse of awarding the National Hero Title to Soeharto, the second Indonesian President that had to take responsibility for various crimes against humanity during the New Order regime. Rather than serving as a tribute, the awarding of that title indeed desecrates the struggle of the victims and all human rights warriors which for decades demand justice and truth-telling. This protest also opposes the state’s systematic agenda to reframe the narration of Indonesia’s ‘official history’, which excludes the voices and testimonies of the victims of gross human rights violations.

This protest was directly addressed to Fadli Zon as The Minister of Culture of Indonesia who concurrently became the Chairman of the Council for Titles, Services, and Honorary Signs (GTK)—which has the authority to propose the names of persons as National Hero candidates to the President. Fadli Zon was involved not only in supporting that discourse but also in disseminating misleading and non-empathetic narratives through his statements to the media and The Ministry of Culture's official Instagram account, @kemenkebud, by declaring that there was never a mass rape on May 1998 Tragedy. This claim is a form of harassment to the survivor of sexual violence as well as a form of denial to the historical fact that have been verified by various state’s independent institutions such as The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) and The National Commission on Violence Against Women (Komnas Perempuan).

The coalition assess that the engagements of Fadli Zon in the history revision project shouldn’t be seen as part of the government’s agenda alone, rather as a part of systemic strategy to wash the state’s hand of the past crimes, particularly during the period of New Order which is filled with repression practice, state violence, enforced disappearances, and silencing civil liberties. In the protest, participants brought various posters, banners, and other visual materials containing calls for resistance towards normalization of the state violence in the past.

The protest was also packaged in a theatrical performance, alternately book excerpt reading by the protesters, and public discussion which highlighted the various forms of systematic violence that happened in the New Order era. The Coalition also submitted data and historical document containing victim’s testimonies, investigative report, and official recommendation by various institutions, as a form of resistance against revision history that are biased and unjust that packaged in two volumes of books, namely “Kita Merawat Ingatan: Tolak Gelar Pahlawan Nasional Soeharto” (English : We Preserve Memory : Reject Soeharto’s National Hero Title) book, which consists of 2,183 pages and “Kita Merawat Ingatan: Dengarkan Suara Korban, Jangan Putihkan Dosa Orde Baru” (In English : We Preserve Memory: Hear the Victims’ Voices, Don’t Whitewash the Crimes of the New Order) book, which consists of 473 pages that have been accepted by Directorate of History under The Ministry of Culture.

These books serve a historical document, victim’s testimonies, investigative data, and recommendation by various credible institutions such as Komnas HAM, Komnas Perempuan, Joint Fact-Finding Team (TGPF), as well as Humanitarian Volunteer Team, all of which are clear evidence that the state’s can no longer avoid from the responsibility to resolve the gross human rights violence cases, particularly in May 1998. Furthermore, The Coalition emphasized that to this day, The Government has not shown serious intentions to take further steps on the files of gross human rights violations in the past, through Attorney General, as mandated by The Law Number 26 of 2000 on Human Rights Court. In the absence of due legal process, the state has neglected its constitutional obligation to respect, protect, and fulfill victims’ rights.

Therefore, this protest :

Condemns and strongly oppose to Fadli Zon’s statement that denied the existence of sexual violence on May 1998 Tragedy and called it a rumour. This statement violated the truth telling and justice for the victims and has the potential to perpetuate impunity culture.
Demands Fadli Zon to retract his statement publicly, provide clarification, and delivered apologizing publicly to the victims of the gross human right violation and family, particularly sexual violence on May 1998 Tragedy and all of Indonesian Woman who fought alongside the victims to upholding justice.
Urges Cancellation of Fadli Zon’s Appointment as the Chairman of GTK because the position has the potential to be used for unilateral historical revision and misleading, and arbitrarily propose Soeharto’s name as National Hero.
Demands in order for The Ministry of Culture to stop the project of rewriting Indonesian “official history” because it has the potential to obscure historical fact, particularly cases of gross human right violations, and it is feared that the composing of official history only become a momentary political project.
Encourages the presence of participative and inclusive space in rewriting national history, where the voice of sexual violence victim’s on May 1999 and other gross human right violation become a central part in building the nation’s collective memory that is just and dignified.
Emphasizes the importance of maintaining the work results of TPGF, Komnas Ham, and Komnas Perempuan as a part of truth telling efforts and recording of the history of gross human right violations.
Urges the Attorney General to immediately take further steps on the Komnas HAM’s investigation files related to the cases of gross human rights violations, by forming an ad hoc Investigation Team as mandated by Article 21 Paragraph (3) Law Number 266 of 2000 on the Human Rights Court.
Opposes any forms of political rehabilitation initiative towards problematic figures from The New Order regime, including the discourse of awarding National Hero title to Soeharto.
Urges the states to guarantee the recovery, confession, truth and justice disclosure for the victims and victims’ family, and make the violent history of May 1998 or other gross human rights violation as a part of the nation’s collective memory.
Advocates to all elements of civil society, academics, media, and the victim's community to continue safeguarding the nation’s historical narrative in order not to fall into the misleading and ahistorical revisionism.