Government Names 39 Victims Of Human Rights Violations In 1965 Incident Not Betrayed By The State

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Mahfud MD (ANTARA)

JAKARTA - The Indonesian government will declare 39 victims of human rights violations (HAM), who are segregated or excavated and have remained abroad since the 1965 political situation, not a traitor to the country.

Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs (Menkopolhukam) Mahfud MD said President Joko Widodo would announce this at the launch of the Settlement of Non-Judicial Serious Human Rights Violations in June.

"We will check one by one, even though they don't want to go home. They don't want to go home, but we will declare them citizens who have never betrayed the country," Mahfud was quoted as saying by ANTARA, Tuesday, May 2.

He explained that 19 ministerial-level officials and heads of non-ministerial government agencies would take various acceleration measures related to the non-judicial settlement of gross human rights violations, including the statement that the victims of the former gross human rights violations were not traitors to the state.

According to Mahfud, the victims of human rights violations, who were not involved in the September 30th Movement or G30S in 1965, were abroad until now because they were not allowed to return to their homeland.

In the past, some of them were Indonesian citizens (WNI) sent by President Soekarno to various countries in Europe to China to continue their education. When the G30S incident occurred, they were not allowed to return to Indonesia after receiving education.

"There are still some of them abroad, we will invite them later. They are not members of the PKI. They are victims because they are sent to school and cannot go home," said Mahfud.

The 3rd President of the Republic of Indonesia BJ Habibie is also one of the victims of exile in the G30S incident. Mahfud said that Habibie earned a master's degree in 1963 and a doctorate at the end of 1965.

Habibie was also one of the Indonesian citizens who were not allowed to return to Indonesia at that time. However, in 1974, Habibie met President Suharto in Germany.

"By Pak Harto, (Habibie) was invited home and he became a big person who later became president. Victims like this, people who go to school, are not involved in the September 30 Movement. They are only sent to school, now they are still abroad," he explained.

He added that the betrayal of the state due to the G30S incident had been completed in court and the reform era.

"It has been completed in the reform era where screening and so on were deleted and then all citizens were given the same rights before the law and government," said Mahfud.