When I think of it, there is no direct connection between my family and the tragedy of ‘65. My late father’s only story was of how, one day, he passed by a place where the political prisoners of ‘65 were forced to work by the military. An officer stopped him and pushed him to raise his hand in a salute. Father refused strongly: why salute the prisoners?
Father worked his life in the P&K, the Department of Education and Culture, a member of Korpri, the corps of government employees, and voted for Golkar (Suharto’s party) of course. Mother, a member of Dharma Wanita, the corps of government employees’ wives. I regard the book “30 years of Independent Indonesia” as Father’s most precious estate. The authority of the Orba doctrines is crystal clear in my family. However, when I claimed the book as my property (none of my siblings refuted my claim), I actually had a different awareness already. I was raised within the version of Orba’s history, and when I matured, I looked for something else. As far as I remember, my sensibility changed when met with literary works, amongst others by Umar Kayam and Ahmad Tohari, which “gave face” to the tragedy of ‘65. I believe that Orba’s success was in dehumanising anyone alleged to be involved with the G30S. Then, these writers show that they are really human like us. Someone's wife, someone's husband, someone's child, someone's father, someone's mother, with a heart, and feelings. This astonished me. How could history rub so many humanly faces out of so many people, for so long? Heru Hikayat #1965setiaphari #living1965
0 Comments
|
Archives
September 2017
Contributors
All
|