Declassified US Embassy documents reveal Indonesian Military involvement in the 1965 -66 Indonesian Massacre that killed nearly 500,00 persons. Many believe the number to be much larger as much as 2.5 Million persons. These killings were a part of a well-planned massacre in order to completely destroy the Indonesian communist party, which was then the largest communist party after that of Russia and China. The killings were a part of the cold war strategy of preventing the spread of communism and thereby ensuring the security of the United States and its interest in the Asian Region. CIA agents were involved in the planning of the massacre including collections of lists of persons to be eliminated which were handed over by the CIA to the military leaders.
Training for the massacres took place by manipulation of religious sentiments of Muslims and Christians. The training centres for the killers and information collectors were run among others by some Christian priests.
Despite of the horrendous nature of the number involved, this massacre has not been adequately discussed internationally or in Indonesia itself. A recently released film ‘The Act of Killing’ produced by Joshua Oppenheimer graphically illustrates the nature of the killings through the narratives of persons who have engaged in such killings.
In this short video Mr Basil Fernando, the Director of Policy and Programmes discusses this massacre and its impact on Asia.
