Last year, in my home village, Bireuen, North Ache, we had a family gathering. My grandmother was ill at the time. I don't feel too close to my family, especially this grandmother, the mother of my stepmother. I didn't have any specific emotion when I thought of her. She was just simply insignificant to me.
At one point, my father told me about my grandmother's younger siblings. Her sister, it turned out, was a Gerwani partisan. She was an excellent dancer, he said. I know her, she's still alive. But her brother - he was missing, they don't know where he is. It turned out that he was the leader of the Pemuda Rakyat organisation, either for the whole Bireuen or for our village, if I didn't misunderstand. My father's story made me really want to talk with grandmother. I went to her room, and she told me, "My brother was really handsome, and so kind, and people really liked him. I don't know where they took him to. He was getting prepared to get married. I also don't understand why our fellow villagers suddenly got so angry and hateful towards him, and then he was just missing. I don't know where he is, until now. How can people be so?" Her eyes were watery. I just hung my head. I told her, "Grandma, now a lot of people are talking about this. There are many more new information, and many people are supporting and defending," She responded, "Yes, that is why I don't like watching the soaps on TV. I like the news better, like Mata Najwa in MetroTV. I am following Munir's case." She then asked me, "Oh dear, Ayie, are you not tired, continuously thinking about this?" I laughed out loud, not knowing what to answer. Actually my grandmother's story made me wanted to do a simple research about her younger siblings. But my time limits my choice of concentration. I choose to focus on helping my friends in Papua, because there are so few that are doing this. I see the position Papua since '63 as similar to '65: the destructive power over generations, the stigma, the victims. Both are the historical sins of the founders of Indonesia-post-'65. Zely Ariane #1965setiaphari #living1965
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