massacre

President Widodo Should Revoke Award for Human Rights Violator 

Committing Crimes Against Humanity is Not for Celebration

London, New York, Berlin 

Saturday 14 August, 2021

TAPOL, ETAN and Watch Indonesia! strongly condemn President Joko Widodo’s decision to grant ‘Bintang Jasa Utama’, one the highest national awards, to Eurico Guterres on Thursday, 12 August 2021. 

A film made in 2015 to document the life of Carmel Budiardjo, now aged 90, and how she came to be a prisoner in Indonesia from 1968 to 1971. On her release and return to London she set up TAPOL to campaign for the release of other political prisoners. 

It was early in the morning of Oct. 1, 1965, that my family and I woke up to the deafening sound of army trucks driving up and down outside our house in Menteng, Jakarta. One of our close neighbors was Gen. Nasution, who had apparently been one of the targets of an attempt early that morning by a group of soldiers to overthrow the government of President Sukarno.

We strongly condemn intimidation and threats against those in Indonesia who are trying to shed light on one of the worst crimes of the 20th century. In the past week, Indonesian authorities have forced the destruction of a periodical focused on the massacres in Indonesia that began 50 years ago.

It was early in the morning of 1 October 1965, that my family and I woke up to the deafening sound of army trucks driving up and down outside our house in Menteng, Jakarta. One of our close neighbours was General Nasution who had apparently been one of the targets of an attempt early that morning by a group of soldiers to overthrow the government of President Sukarno.