Only Now Can We Speak: Remembering Politicide in Yogyakarta

In 1965 the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) was the second largest communist party in Asia. Indonesian politics was predicated on a precarious balance of nationalist (PNI), Muslim (Masyumi) and communist (PKI) political parties, the military, and the country's charismatic president, Sukarno (Feith 2006; Lev 1967). In the wake of an abortive coup on 30 September, the military, Muslim, and nationalist death squads killed at least 200,000 people thought to be party members or supporters. This orgy of violence brought the authoritarian military-dominated New Order government of Indonesia's second president, Soeharto, to power. He was to rule Indonesia with an iron hand until 1998.