Letter-writing and Transnational Activism on Behalf of Indonesian Political Prisoners: Gatot Lestario and his Legacy

ABSTRACT

Amnesty International estimated in 1977 that between 600,000 and 750,000 Indonesians had been or were still imprisoned as a result of the Army-led anti-communist violence in Indonesia in the mid-1960s. This article charts the relationship between members of Amnesty International and the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) with a political prisoner on death row in East Java, Gatot Lestario, a former leader of the Indonesian Communist Party. This article draws on the letters he wrote over a period of three years before his execution in 1985 and interviews with his pen pals. It traces the ways in which he encouraged his pen pals to advocate for human rights in Indonesia and their responses, as well as his own involvement in political prisoner advocacy. This case study illustrates the disappearance of Indonesia's previously close and solidary relationship with the socialist world and its replacement at the people-to-people level with human rights activism involving Western activists. This is particularly evident in the increasingly important role played by members of Amnesty International, the Quakers and other overseas organizations concerned with Indonesia. Finally, the article assesses Gatot Lestario's impact, after his execution, on the development of a long-term advocacy network for Indonesia's political prisoners.

Keywords:

• Gatot Lestario
• Religious Society of Friends
• Quakers
• human rights
• Indonesia
• Amnesty International

Acknowledgments

Thank you to Adrian Vickers, Heather Goodall, Bradley Simpson and Tyrrell Haberkorn for reading and commenting on earlier versions of this paper which was first delivered at the 2015 Association of Asian Studies conference in Chicago. Thanks also to Katharine McGregor, Amrita Malhi, Doreen Brown, Elly van Gelderen, Patricia Cleveland-Peck, Martha Meijer and Jeanne van Ammers-Douwes for additional research material and to the four anonymous reviewers of this article.

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributor

Vannessa Hearman is lecturer in Indonesian Studies at the University of Sydney. Her main research interests are the 1965–1966 Indonesian violence and efforts to address this past today. She has published on these topics and on Southeast Asian history more generally in books and academic journals including Indonesia, South East Asia Research and Critical Asian Studies.

ORCID

Vannessa Hearman http://orcid.org/0000-0002-2837-9572

Notes

¹See, for example, Hopgood 2006 and Clark 2001.

²The one notable exception is Janet Maybin's work; see Maybin 1999.

³Robinson 2014, 34. For example, Robinson's study of East Timor's advocacy work in the late 1970s onwards found that the Timorese resistance utilized all the tools at its disposal to achieve its aim of overthrowing Indonesian rule. These tools included pressuring United Nations bodies to oversee the decolonization process begun by Portugal, as well as deploying human rights discourse to argue for the rights of its people.

⁴McVey 1967, 146.

⁵McGregor 2009, 87.

⁶Semdam VIII Brawidjaja 1969, 298.

⁷Letter from Gatot Lestario to Elly van Gelderen, November 24, 1983. Jeanne van Ammers – Douwes/IISH.

⁸Semdam VIII Brawidjaja 1969, 305.

⁹McVey 1990, 12–18.

¹⁰Membership figures put forward by Aidit cited in Mortimer 1974, 366.

¹¹Roosa 2006, 224.

¹²Kammen and McGregor 2012, 16–21. Political prisoners were detained until 1978, at which time mass releases began.

¹³Sudisman 2000, 93.

¹⁴Semdam VIII Brawidjaja 1969, 298.

¹⁵ Hearman 2013, 2.

¹⁶Hearman 2012, 182–207.

¹⁷Interviews with Tuti, Surabaya, August 2, 2007 and M. Winata, East Java, February 22, 2008 (pseudonyms).

¹⁸Hearman 2012, 196.

¹⁹Semdam VIII Brawidjaja 1969 , 297.

²⁰Interviews with Tuti, Surabaya, August 2, 2007 and M. Winata, East Java, February 22, 2008 (pseudonyms).

²¹Semdam VIII Brawidjaja, Operasi Trisula, 298.

²²Semdam VIII Brawidjaja, Operasi Trisula, 297.

²³Amnesty International, “Further information on UA151/85 (ASA 21/19/85 23 May) – Death Penalty,” AI Index ASA 21/31/85.

²⁴Amnesty Case Notes on Djoko Untung and Gatot Lestario, Amnesty International, AI Index ASA November 21, 1984. Jeanne Van Ammers – Douwes/IISH.

²⁵Rustomo, who was executed with them on July 1, 1985, had been arrested in May 1968 and sentenced to death at the Surabaya District Court on January 10, 1975.

²⁶Jeanne van Ammers – Douwes papers, held at the International Institute of Social History, Amsterdam, ARCH02325.

²⁷Brown ed. 1986.

²⁸Email, Rosine Ritzenthaler, November 18, 2010.

²⁹Eckel 2013b, 227–230.

³⁰Moyn 2012, 172.

³¹Cmiel 2012 , 39.

³²Cmiel 2012, 39.

³³Simpson 2012, 181.

³⁴Lev 2011, 265.

³⁵Houben 1997, 50

³⁶Nasution 2004, 216.

³⁷Soemitro 1998; Aspinall 2005, 24–25.

³⁸Aspinall 2005, 24–25.

³⁹Simpson 2013, 201.

⁴⁰Pramoedya 1999. For the original and longer version of this work, see Pramoedya 1995.

⁴¹Heryanto 2005, 57–59.

⁴²Heryanto 2005, 57–59.

⁴³Moeljono 2013.

⁴⁴Gready 1993, 492.

⁴⁵In 1952, some three years after Indonesia's independence, the government estimated that 50% of Indonesians were illiterate. Kementerian Pendidikan, Pengajaran dan Kebudajaan Republik Indonesia 1952, 2.

⁴⁶Suryomenggolo 2012, 601.

⁴⁷Soekarno 1975.

⁴⁸Amnesty International 1976, 7.

⁴⁹George Moore, “Formative failures: Amnesty International and Indonesia's Political Prisoners, 1966–1972”, unpublished paper, 4.

⁵⁰Moore, 13.

⁵¹Amnesty International (Dutch section) 1973, cited in Amnesty International 1976, 9.

⁵²Amnesty International 1977.

⁵³Personal communication with Jeanne van Ammers-Douwes, Amsterdam September 28, 2015.

⁵⁴Pudjiaswati was arrested in 1968 and tried for subversion in 1978. After a three-year-long trial, she was sentenced in 1981 to fifteen years prison. With remissions granted over the course of her imprisonment, she was released in 1988. Napsiyah served a twenty-year sentence also for subversion.

⁵⁵Eckel 2013a, 195.

⁵⁶Eckel 2013a, 193.

⁵⁷Eckel 2013a, 193.

⁵⁸Eckel 2013a, 195.

⁵⁹Cmiel 2012, 39.

⁶⁰Internal case notes and correspondence sent by Nick Banton to local Amnesty groups included Nick Banton to Netherlands group 40, Internal case sheet, Amnesty International, December 1, 1983 and Nick Banton correspondence to Groups France 11 and Netherlands 40, March 12, 1984. Jeanne Van Ammers – Douwes/IISH.

⁶¹Eckel 2013a, p. 197.

⁶²Cooper 1981, 688.

⁶³“Quaker action against torture,” http://www.quakersintheworld.org/quakers-in-action/334. Accessed February 26, 2015).

⁶⁴Clark 2001, 45.

⁶⁵Baker 1980.

⁶⁶The QATG was closed down in 1994. See “Quaker action against torture,” http://www.quakersintheworld.org/quakers-in-action/334 (accessed May 27, 2015).

⁶⁷Birtles 1982, 20.

⁶⁸Birtles 1982, 2.

⁶⁹Birtles 1982, 4.

⁷⁰Birtles 1982, 4.

⁷¹Clark in Birtles 1982, 4. Emphasis added.

⁷²Moyn 2015, 28; Ballmer 2014, xxiv.

⁷³Birtles 1982, 12. Local Quaker groups in the United Kingdom adopted eight Indonesian prisoners. One was an unnamed fifty-eight year-old trade union leader on death row, adopted by the Sheffield Meeting, possibly trade unionist Mohammad Munir, incarcerated at that time in Jakarta.

⁷⁴Budiardjo 1996, 209. “Tapol” is an acronym for tahanan politik, political detainee.

⁷⁵McGregor 2015, 21–22.

⁷⁶Lestario in Brown ed. 1986, 52.

⁷⁷Capon 2006.

⁷⁸Email Rosine Ritzenthaler, November 18, 2010.

⁷⁹Hill 2008, 8.

⁸⁰Hill 2008, 11, n. 31.

⁸¹Lestario in Brown ed. 1986, 30.

⁸²Capon 2006, 42.

⁸³Email Elly van Gelderen, May 17, 2011.

⁸⁴“Letters for Amnesty Polite Pleas,” Ottawa Citizen 1982, 43.

⁸⁵“Letters for Amnesty Polite Pleas,” Ottawa Citizen 1982, 43.

⁸⁶Egan Funeral Home, “Piera Kirby (nee Signori),” December 8, 2009, http://www.eganfuneralhome.com/2009/piera-kirby-nee-signori Accessed November 5, 2015.

⁸⁷Interview with Doreen Brown, London, August 12, 2010.

⁸⁸Interview with Doreen Brown, London, August 12, 2010.

⁸⁹Birtles 1982, 18.

⁹⁰Interview with Peter Brown, London, August 12, 2010.

⁹¹Interview with Doreen Brown, London, August 12, 2010.

⁹²Eckel 2013a, 196.

⁹³Lestario to van Gelderen, September 18, 1984. Jeanne Van Ammers – Douwes/IISH

⁹⁴Interview with Peter Brown, London, August 12, 2010.

⁹⁵Lestario in Brown ed. 1986, 42.

⁹⁶Lestario in Brown ed. 1986, 6.

⁹⁷Lestario in Brown ed. 1986, 59.

⁹⁸Letter Lestario to van Gelderen, December 26, 1983. Jeanne Van Ammers – Douwes/IISH.

⁹⁹Letter Lestario to van Gelderen, December 26, 1983. Jeanne Van Ammers – Douwes/IISH.

¹⁰⁰Amnesty International 1977, 71–74; International Review of the Red Cross 193: 197.

¹⁰¹Letter Lestario to van Gelderen, September 15,1983. Jeanne Van Ammers – Douwes/IISH.

¹⁰²Lestario in Brown ed. 1986, 164.

¹⁰³Oedema is a symptom of undernutrition. On diseases related to undernutrition, see Prakash Shetty 2006, 524–529.

¹⁰⁴Lestario in Brown ed. 1986, 167. The correct rendering of this Dutch proverb is ieder huisje heeft zijn eigen kruisje. I am grateful to Jeanne van Ammers-Douwes for this information.

¹⁰⁵Lestario in Brown ed. 1986, 50.

¹⁰⁶Lestario in Brown ed. 1986, 69

¹⁰⁷Interview with Peter Brown, London, August 12, 2010.

¹⁰⁸Amnesty Case Notes on Djoko Untung and Gatot Lestario, Amnesty International, AI Index ASA November 21, 1984, Jeanne Van Ammers – Douwes/IISH.

¹⁰⁹Lestario in Brown ed. 1986, 30.

¹¹⁰Personal papers, Doreen Brown.

¹¹¹Letter Paulus Mudjani to Rosine Ritzenthaler, February 6, 1985.

¹¹²Lestario to van Gelderen, May 29, 1984. Jeanne Van Ammers – Douwes/IISG.

¹¹³Similarly citing a former Amnesty researcher, historian Brad Simpson contends that the institutional needs of international organizations began to shape the activities of local campaign groups, such as in their ways of formulating reports and information bulletins. Brad Simpson 2012, 187.

¹¹⁴Lestario to van Gelderen, November 24, 1983. Jeanne Van Ammers – Douwes/IISG.

¹¹⁵Lestario to van Gelderen, September 15, 1983. Jeanne Van Ammers – Douwes/IISG.

¹¹⁶Lestario to van Gelderen, October 15, 1984. Jeanne Van Ammers – Douwes/IISG.

¹¹⁷Lestario to van Gelderen, September 18, 1984; November 10, 1984 and May 29, 1984, Jeanne Van Ammers – Douwes/IISG.

¹¹⁸Lestario to van Gelderen, May 29, 1984, Jeanne Van Ammers – Douwes/IISG.

¹¹⁹Maybin 1999, 159.

¹²⁰Nick Banton to Netherlands group 40, Internal case sheet, Amnesty International, December 1, 1983. Jeanne van Ammers – Douwes/IISH.

¹²¹Letter to Doreen Brown, June 20, 1986, IISH.

¹²²Joliffe 1995, 12.

¹²³ Tapol Bulletin 70: 2.

¹²⁴Lestario in Brown ed. 1986, 198.

¹²⁵ Tapol Bulletin 71: 3.

¹²⁶ Tapol Bulletin 71: 3.

¹²⁷Harsutejo no date.

¹²⁸ Tapol Bulletin 79, 5.

¹²⁹Interview with Doreen Brown, London, August 12, 2010. See also Amnesty International, “Urgent Action – Death Penalty Indonesia: Gatot Lestario, Rustomo, Djoko Untung.” ASA December 21, 1985.

¹³⁰Personal communication with Jeanne van Ammers-Douwes, Amsterdam, September 28, 2015.

¹³¹Personal communication with Jeanne van Ammers-Douwes, Amsterdam, September 28, 2015.

¹³²Interview with Doreen Brown, London, August 12, 2010.

¹³³Interview with Peter Brown, London, August 12, 2010. Lestario had written of a dream in which his coffin was draped in the Indonesian flag and the Union Jack.

¹³⁴Letter Doreen Brown, June 20, 1986, IISH.

¹³⁵Email, Patricia Cleveland-Peck, January 7, 2016.

¹³⁶Interview with Peter Brown, London, August 12, 2010.

¹³⁷The Pudji Fund was renamed the Rehabilitation of Former Prisoners of Conscience Fund (RFPC) when it began sending funds to former prisoners in other countries. Email, Patricia Cleveland-Peck, January 7, 2016.

¹³⁸Capon 2006, 74–76.

¹³⁹Kirby 1987, p. D.7.

¹⁴⁰Walkom 1987, A.12.

¹⁴¹Personal communication with Jeanne van Ammers-Douwes, Amsterdam, September 28, 2015.

¹⁴²See, for example, the Suparna Sastra Diredja archives, International Institute for Social History, Amsterdam, ARCH00565.

¹⁴³ Tapol Bulletin 71: 6–10.

¹⁴⁴Stichting Indonesia Media 1985.

¹⁴⁵Interview with Peter Brown, London, August 12, 2010.

Additional information

Funding

This research was funded by the Australia-Netherlands Research Collaboration, The University of Sydney's Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Research Support Scheme and the Sydney Southeast Asia Centre.