Memory Studies and Human Rights in Indonesia

Abstract

The field of memory studies focuses primarily on attempts to recall or address abuses of human rights. Because of its emphasis on temporality and the politics of the past, memory studies encourages us to question how, when and why individuals and collectives turn towards the past to engage in expressions of regret or social repair in response to historical injustice. In the case of survivors of violence there are obvious reasons to appeal to the discourse of human rights, but there also appear to be triggers, in cases of communities that have played a role in past violence, for re-examining the past. Through case studies of young activists who are dedicated to researching the 1965–68 anti-communist violence in Indonesia, I will explore what memory studies can offer to our understanding of human rights activism. The young activists on whom I focus are all connected with Indonesia’s largest religious organisation, the Nahdlatul Ulama (Revival of Islamic Scholars), which played a key role in the 1965–68 anti-communist violence. In this paper I will explore what motivated two activists from a so-called “implicated community” (Morris-Suzuki, 2005 ) to engage in a quest for social justice for long-marginalised members of society.

Keywords:

• memory studies
• human rights
• Indonesia
• intergenerational memory
• implicated communities
• Nahdlatul Ulama
• September 30^th Movement

Acknowledgments

This paper is the result of a larger research project on Islam and the Politics of Memory in Post-Authoritarian Indonesia funded under the Australian Research Council Discovery Project Scheme (DP0772760). Many thanks to Vera Mackie, Vannessa Hearman and the anonymous referees for their feedback on this article.