Not right in Ramadhan
In late 1965 Beny was a young policeman serving in Nusa
Tenggara Timor, Indonesia’s far eastern province that’s closer to Darwin than
Jakarta
It was a turbulent time for the Republic, then only two
decades old. A moral tsunami was
sweeping the nation, the waves generated in the distant capital where a
military coup had dethroned first president Soekarno.
His successor General Soeharto said the army acted because
the godless communists were about to seize control. He ordered a purge. An estimated 500,000
died.
Citizens were condemned as reds though membership of the
Communist Party had been legal. They were imprisoned, brutally treated, then forced
to beach or jungle and shot.
Beny was among the official executioners. He squinted down the sights of his rifle,
aimed at the bowed heads of neighbours he’d known and pulled the trigger.
The defenceless targets were so close he could hardly miss. Then
he saw what he’d done - the shattered skulls, the splashed brains and the gore.
Over several months he killed 17 men.
When the insanity eventually passed a sort of nervous
normality returned. Memories of the
terror were buried along with the victims, but could not be stilled.
A teenage daughter discovered her parent’s awful secret. To
help lay the ghosts she later wrote his story published as a chapter in Memecah Pembisuan - Breaking the
Silence, (Monash University Publishing).
Speaking of her research she said: “He told me that he was
very much affected by the killing. He felt as if he were going mad. Two years after the
killings, my parents got married.
“The first year of their marriage was very hard for my
mum. My father beat her a lot. Only after they performed some traditional
rituals, visited a local shaman, and prayed every midnight for several months in
the church, did my father become calm.
“For the first four years of their marriage they did
not have any children. My mother had some miscarriages. So they prayed and
asked forgiveness from God and promised God that if they had children, they
would dedicate their first one to God.”
That child is now the Rev Dr Mery Kolimon (left), a leading advocate
for reconciliation as co-editor of Forbidden
Memories – Women’s Experiences of 1965 in Eastern Indonesia (MUP).
Her
father had someone to shrive his soul and died quickly of a heart attack. Other executioners burdened by their terrible
deeds went insane or committed suicide. Their distressed families seldom
understood why their loved ones were going crazy and causing so much strife.
Joshua Oppenheimer’s films
about the 1965 massacres, The Act of
Killing and The Look of Silence reveal the unstoppable mental
torments suffered by the executioners despite outward bravado.
Along
with its agents, the state is also a victim.
Last year the Indonesian government savaged its reputation as a modern
civilised nation by killing eight drug traffickers including two Australians
Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran.
Australia, Brazil and the Netherlands withdrew their
ambassadors. There were protests around the world. Attorney
General Muhammad Prasetyo claimed the shootings were “more orderly and
more perfect” than earlier executions. Now more are planned.
Prasetyo said he
delayed the next round in respect for Ramadhan which ended on 7 July. Sometime
soon five local and five foreign convicts, mostly drug traffickers will be tied
to posts at Nusa Kambangan prison and gunned down at midnight.
Prasetyo reportedly told
journalists: “Conducting executions
during the holy month will not sound right.”
Nor does the sound of gunshots in
jail whatever the month and wherever in the world. Judicial killings have long ceased to be right
along with crucifixions, burning witches and dismemberments. All nations have a history of enacting
ghastly punishments. Most have matured, repented
and reformed.
Along with 31 US States, Indonesia has yet to
find the moral courage to join the majority.
Supporters of the grizzly procedure say it’s a deterrent but
show no figures. If true drug
trafficking would have ceased long ago. What is known is that Indonesia’s legal
system is so rotten there’s no certainty the convicted are guilty as charged.
Brazilian
Rodrigo Gularte, 42, had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and bipolar
disorder. Priest Charlie Burrows said the condemned man could not understand
that he was to die in the last batch.
Filipino
Mary Jane Veloso got a last-hour stay when new evidence showed she may have
been an unknowing drug mule.
Polls show locals
approve capital punishment. Indonesia often demonstrates its inferiority
complex through demands to be treated as great nation. The public thinks executions
prove its position with a tough guy president giving the finger to the international
community.
Those scheduled for the next mass execution are men from
countries like China and Nigeria which also retain the death penalty. There are no Westerners or pretty women
listed this time which probably means protests will be muted, diluting the
abolitionists’ campaign.
Indonesia is also hypocritical. Around 280 citizens are on death rows
overseas, principally Saudi Arabia where maids allegedly despatching their
brutal bosses seem to be a regular tragedy.
Spurred by an outraged media the Indonesian government pleads for
clemency, not always successfully.
Among those involved in the coming gruesome ritual are 150
marksmen undergoing training, though no skill is needed to shoot a sitting
target. Authorities say some rifles will
be loaded with blanks so no-one can be sure they were responsible.
This is nonsense. Army trainees who have used live rounds
and blanks are well aware the kick is different. The guilty will know.
Like Dr Kolimon’s dad they’ll spend the rest of their days
reliving the unholy nightmares, tormenting themselves and families. Attorney
General Prasetyo should rest well for ensuring no wrong sounds upset the peace
of Ramadhan.
(First published in New Mandala 8 July 2016. See: http://www.newmandala.org/not-right-ramadan/
