Sukarno was an Indonesian statesman, orator, revolutionary, and nationalist who was the first president of Indonesia, serving from 1945 to 1967.
Suharto was an Indonesian military officer and the second President of Indonesia. Widely regarded as a military dictator by international observers, Suharto led Indonesia as an authoritarian regime from 1967 until his resignation in 1998 following nationwide unrest. His 31-year dictatorship is considered one of the most brutal and corrupt of the 20th century: he was central to the perpetration of mass killings against alleged communists and subsequent persecution of ethnic Chinese, irreligious people, and trade unionists.
The Party of Functional Groups, often known by its abbreviation Golkar, is a centre-right big tent political party in Indonesia. Founded in 1964 as the Joint Secretariat of Functional Groups, it is the oldest extant political party in Indonesia. It first participated in national elections in 1971 as Functional Groups. Since 2009, it has been the second-largest party in the House of Representatives (DPR), having won 102 seats in the latest election.
The Communist Party of Indonesia was a communist party in the Dutch East Indies and later Indonesia. It was the largest non-ruling communist party in the world before its violent disbandment in 1965. The party had two million members in the 1955 elections, with 16 percent of the national vote and almost 30 percent of the vote in East Java. During most of the period immediately following the Indonesian Independence until the eradication of the PKI in 1965, it was a legal party operating openly in the country. Accused of responsibility for the 1965 army-led coup attempt, the party was banned by General Suharto in March 1966.
Subandrio was an Indonesian politician Foreign Minister and First Deputy Prime Minister of Indonesia under President Sukarno. Removed from office following the failed 1965 coup, he spent 29 years in prison.
The New Order describes the regime of the second Indonesian President Suharto from his rise to power in 1966 until his resignation in 1998. Suharto coined the term upon his accession and used it to contrast his presidency with that of his predecessor Sukarno.
Indonesia's transition to the New Order in the mid-1960s ousted the country's first president, Sukarno, after 22 years in the position. One of the most tumultuous periods in the country's modern history, it was also the commencement of Suharto's 31-year presidency.
The Thirtieth of September Movement was a self-proclaimed organization of Indonesian National Armed Forces members. In the early hours of 1 October 1965, they assassinated six Indonesian Army generals in an abortive coup d'état. Later that morning, the organization declared that it was in control of media and communication outlets and had taken President Sukarno under its protection. By the end of the day, the coup attempt had failed in Jakarta. Meanwhile, in central Java there was an attempt to take control over an army division and several cities. By the time this rebellion was put down, two more senior officers were dead.
Guided Democracy, also called the Old Order, was the political system in place in Indonesia from 1959 until the New Order began in 1966. This period followed the dissolution of the liberal democracy period in Indonesia by President Sukarno, who centralized control in the name of political stability. He claimed to have based the system based on the traditional village system of discussion and consensus, which occurred under the guidance of village elders. On the national level, however, this meant centralized rule under Sukarno: martial law, a massive reduction in civil liberties and democratic norms, and the Indonesian National Armed Forces and Communist Party of Indonesia acting as major power blocs.
Sarwo Edhie Wibowo was an Indonesian military leader and the father of Kristiani Herrawati, the former first lady of Indonesia, and the wife of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and also the father of Chief of Staff Pramono Edhie Wibowo. As an army colonel, he played a direct role in directing troops during the Indonesian killings of 1965–66, in which more than half a million Indonesian civilians died. With Suharto's blessing, Wibowo initiated the slaughter. Later, he served as Chairman of the BP-7 center, as Indonesia's ambassador to South Korea, and as governor of the Indonesian Military Academy.
Large-scale killings and civil unrest primarily targeting members and supposed sympathizers of the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI) were carried out in Indonesia from 1965 to 1966. Other affected groups included alleged communist sympathisers, Gerwani women, trade unionists, ethnic Javanese Abangan, ethnic Chinese, atheists, so-called "unbelievers", and alleged leftists in general. According to the most widely published estimates at least 500,000 to 1 million people were killed, with some estimates going as high as two to three million. The atrocities, sometimes described as a genocide or a politicide, were instigated by the Indonesian Army under Suharto. Research and declassified documents demonstrate the Indonesian authorities received support from foreign countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom.
Lieutenant Colonel Untung bin Syamsuri was one of the leaders of the 1965 coup attempt in Indonesia known as the 30 September Movement.
Sofjan Wanandi, a.k.a. Lim Bian Khoen is an Indonesian businessman and the majority owner of Santini Group. Born in Sawahlunto, West Sumatra, he is the brother of Jusuf Wanandi, a senior politician and one of the founders of the CSIS think tank in Jakarta.
Preman is a term for Indonesian organized crime groups, encompassing street level criminals up through crime bosses. Premans are often perceived negatively throughout Indonesian society due to associations with violence and criminality. This root word is derived from a term which describes the "confluence of state power and criminality". However, organized crime in Indonesia has a more enduring and complicated history, as the confluence of crime syndicates with perceived legitimate political authority has a history extending as far back as the Mataram Kingdom. While associated with brigandage and theft, Indonesian crime syndicates have periodically acted as enforcers to maintain authority and order. The roles of the jago or jawara were particularly important during the Indonesian Revolution, as they often adopted political roles that helped consolidating the power of local authorities. Despite their significance to Indonesian history, syndicates are universally marginalized due to associations with violence and social illegitimacy.
The Act of Killing is a 2012 documentary film directed by Joshua Oppenheimer, with Christine Cynn and an anonymous Indonesian co-directing. The film follows individuals who participated in the Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66, wherein alleged communists and people opposed to the New Order regime were tortured and killed, with the killers, many becoming gangsters, still in power throughout the country. The film was mostly filmed in Medan, North Sumatra, following the executioner Anwar Congo and his acquaintances as they, upon Oppenheimer's request, re-enact their killings and talk about their actions openly, also following Congo's psychological journey facing the topic.
The Pancasila Youth is an Indonesian far-right paramilitary organization established in 1959. The organisation's name refers to Pancasila, the official "five principles" of the Indonesian state. Pemuda Pancasila was involved in the Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66, and supported the New Order regime of President Suharto. Its members extort money, control car parking and offer security services.
Jailani "John" Naro, also known as Haji Naro or John Naro was a former prosecutor that became an Indonesian politician.
Ulung Sitepu was an Indonesian general and politician who served as the governor of North Sumatra from 1963 until 1965. Following the 30 September Movement, he was arrested and accused of supporting the movement. He was sentenced to death, but the sentence was later reduced to life imprisonment.
Pancasila is the official, foundational philosophical theory of Indonesia. The name is made from two words originally derived from Sanskrit: "pañca" ("five") and "śīla".
Peris Pardede (1918–1982) was an Indonesian politician who was a key figure in the Communist Party of Indonesia during the Sukarno era. He held various roles, including editor of the party magazine Bintang Merah, representative of the party in the Provisional House of Representatives and the House of Representatives throughout the 1950s and early 1960s, and Politburo candidate in 1965. After the party was banned in 1965, he was put on trial and spent his final decades as a political prisoner of the Suharto regime.
