December 8, 2015
The Jakarta Police have banned (click here) a reading and discussion of a drama script titled "Family Album: #50years1965" at the Jakarta Theater Festival (FTJ) that was scheduled to take place at Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM), Central Jakarta, on Tuesday.
The police said they issued the prohibition because of fears of trouble from opponents of the event.
Letter No. B/19811/XII/2015/Datro states that the police refused to issue a permit as a result of pressure from a group calling itself the Jakarta Theater Family Who Cares for the Jakarta Theater Festival, which had previously informed the police about its plans to hold a rally in protest at the event.
FTJ project officer Malhamang Zamzam questioned the ban, saying such a move was difficult to understand. "It's weird because street rallies are common and we also have right to free speech. If the event fails because of the rally, that's OK. But if it's a result of a prohibition, I can't understand that," said Zamzam as quoted by Tempo.co on Tuesday.
According to Zamzam, there might have been some fear among the opponents who considered the drama script to relate to the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), while in fact the activity would only be a historical drama script-writing workshop that referred to archives or studies, led by 10 scriptwriters....
The Jakarta police are rightfully concerned about the people who are upset. The police have a right to measure potential threats to stability. It is difficult to believe any person in Jakarta wants to relive this event. I would be surprised if the history of a country is used to raise militancy within it's borders by Internet Daesh. This is simply an effort by the Jakarta police to contain violence before it begins. I think it is a reasonable decision.
In the course of little more than five months (click here) from late 1965 to early 1966, anti-communist Indonesians killed about half a million of their fellow citizens. Nearly all the victims were associated with Indonesia's Left, especially with the Communist Party (PKI) that had risen to unprecedented national prominence under President Sukarno's Guided Democracy. The massacres were presided over and often coordinated or carried out by anti-communist sections of the Indonesian army, but they also engaged wider elements of Indonesian society - both people who had reason to fear communist power and people who wanted to establish clear anti-communist credentials in troubled times.
The killings followed a coup which took place in Jakarta on the morning of 1 October 1965 in which six senior army generals were killed and a revolutionary council was formed, seizing power from Sukarno. For the whole of the New Order period, Indonesian authorities portrayed these events as a communist grab for power, which was to be followed by the wholesale slaughter of their opponents. Sceptics, by contrast, doubted the PKI's involvement and even wondered whether the coup might have been a 'black' operation by conservative forces, intended to compromise the Party. Recent research, especially by John Roosa, who writes for this issue, has shown that the PKI leadership was closely involved in the coup, but that the aims of the operation were far more limited than a seizure of power....
The Jakarta Police have banned (click here) a reading and discussion of a drama script titled "Family Album: #50years1965" at the Jakarta Theater Festival (FTJ) that was scheduled to take place at Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM), Central Jakarta, on Tuesday.
The police said they issued the prohibition because of fears of trouble from opponents of the event.
Letter No. B/19811/XII/2015/Datro states that the police refused to issue a permit as a result of pressure from a group calling itself the Jakarta Theater Family Who Cares for the Jakarta Theater Festival, which had previously informed the police about its plans to hold a rally in protest at the event.
FTJ project officer Malhamang Zamzam questioned the ban, saying such a move was difficult to understand. "It's weird because street rallies are common and we also have right to free speech. If the event fails because of the rally, that's OK. But if it's a result of a prohibition, I can't understand that," said Zamzam as quoted by Tempo.co on Tuesday.
According to Zamzam, there might have been some fear among the opponents who considered the drama script to relate to the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), while in fact the activity would only be a historical drama script-writing workshop that referred to archives or studies, led by 10 scriptwriters....
The Jakarta police are rightfully concerned about the people who are upset. The police have a right to measure potential threats to stability. It is difficult to believe any person in Jakarta wants to relive this event. I would be surprised if the history of a country is used to raise militancy within it's borders by Internet Daesh. This is simply an effort by the Jakarta police to contain violence before it begins. I think it is a reasonable decision.
In the course of little more than five months (click here) from late 1965 to early 1966, anti-communist Indonesians killed about half a million of their fellow citizens. Nearly all the victims were associated with Indonesia's Left, especially with the Communist Party (PKI) that had risen to unprecedented national prominence under President Sukarno's Guided Democracy. The massacres were presided over and often coordinated or carried out by anti-communist sections of the Indonesian army, but they also engaged wider elements of Indonesian society - both people who had reason to fear communist power and people who wanted to establish clear anti-communist credentials in troubled times.
The killings followed a coup which took place in Jakarta on the morning of 1 October 1965 in which six senior army generals were killed and a revolutionary council was formed, seizing power from Sukarno. For the whole of the New Order period, Indonesian authorities portrayed these events as a communist grab for power, which was to be followed by the wholesale slaughter of their opponents. Sceptics, by contrast, doubted the PKI's involvement and even wondered whether the coup might have been a 'black' operation by conservative forces, intended to compromise the Party. Recent research, especially by John Roosa, who writes for this issue, has shown that the PKI leadership was closely involved in the coup, but that the aims of the operation were far more limited than a seizure of power....
The
Jakarta Police have banned a reading and discussion of a drama script
titled "Family Album: #50years1965" at the Jakarta Theater Festival
(FTJ) that was scheduled to take place at Taman Ismail Marzuki (TIM),
Central Jakarta, on Tuesday.
The police said they issued the prohibition because of fears of trouble from opponents of the event.
Letter No. B/19811/XII/2015/Datro states that the police refused to issue a permit as a result of pressure from a group calling itself the Jakarta Theater Family Who Cares for the Jakarta Theater Festival, which had previously informed the police about its plans to hold a rally in protest at the event.
FTJ project officer Malhamang Zamzam questioned the ban, saying such a move was difficult to understand. "It's weird because street rallies are common and we also have right to free speech. If the event fails because of the rally, that's OK. But if it's a result of a prohibition, I can't understand that," said Zamzam as quoted by Tempo.co on Tuesday.
According to Zamzam, there might have been some fear among the opponents who considered the drama script to relate to the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), while in fact the activity would only be a historical drama script-writing workshop that referred to archives or studies, led by 10 scriptwriters. - See more at: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/12/08/jakarta-police-ban-discussion-1965-drama.html#sthash.ujGGS9gL.dpuf
The police said they issued the prohibition because of fears of trouble from opponents of the event.
Letter No. B/19811/XII/2015/Datro states that the police refused to issue a permit as a result of pressure from a group calling itself the Jakarta Theater Family Who Cares for the Jakarta Theater Festival, which had previously informed the police about its plans to hold a rally in protest at the event.
FTJ project officer Malhamang Zamzam questioned the ban, saying such a move was difficult to understand. "It's weird because street rallies are common and we also have right to free speech. If the event fails because of the rally, that's OK. But if it's a result of a prohibition, I can't understand that," said Zamzam as quoted by Tempo.co on Tuesday.
According to Zamzam, there might have been some fear among the opponents who considered the drama script to relate to the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), while in fact the activity would only be a historical drama script-writing workshop that referred to archives or studies, led by 10 scriptwriters. - See more at: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/12/08/jakarta-police-ban-discussion-1965-drama.html#sthash.ujGGS9gL.dpuf
