Talking Indonesia

On 11 January, President Joko Widodo gave a national address in which he acknowledged gross violations of human rights had occurred in Indonesia and expressed his regret and sympathy for the victims. He referred to 12 incidents involving historical rights violations, including the 1965-66 killings, the extrajudicial killings of criminals in the 1980s (known as Petrus), kidnappings and disappearances of students and activists in the late 1990s, the Talangsari incident in Lampung in 1989, and a number of events in Aceh and Papua. Jokowi made the statement at an event where he accepted the recommendations of a team he had assembled in 2022 to consider non-judicial resolution of past violations of human rights. The presidential statement included a commitment to recovery and restoration of the rights of victims, and to ensuring that such events do not happen again. What is the significance of Jokowi’s acknowledgement and why did he choose to make it now? How has it been received by victims, their relatives and