Seventy years after Indonesia’s independence, fifty years after the events of 1965, and seventeen years after Reformasi, many dark traces of the past still remain unresolved. There is still much false history that must be corrected, good names that need to be restored, and truths that must be revealed.
This is the homework – not only for the older generation of activists and campaigners who have been gasping for breath in the struggle for justice, but also for young people living with new opportunities. Opportunities to access alternative information narratives, to raise these issues in their own ways, and to interpret historical narratives that have long been considered rigid from different points of view.
This newsletter wants to talk about those possibilities. We chatted with the three winners of the Re(i)novasi Memori competition about their works and hopes, and also traced back the efforts of the survivor movement of past human rights violations – including why those efforts are still needed, even if their form and methods may have changed.
By the way, for this edition, we tried as much as possible to avoid using the word ‘victim’ to describe these fighters – except where the person in question actually died in the incident. We prefer the word ‘survivor.’ Because they are not pitiful, weak figures, but whole, empowered, and extraordinary human beings.
Happy reading. May the force be with you!
