This year marks the 50th anniversary of Gestapu, the murky events in Indonesia that precipitated a massacre of several hundred thousand people in 1965-66 that constitutes one of the most murderous convulsions of the 20th century.
This national trauma remains unresolved within Indonesia as competing narratives sow confusion about what happened and blur responsibility. Even though the top-level officers involved have all died, the powerful military opposes a full accounting because it would inevitably tarnish the institution and undermine its credibility and self-appointed role as guardian of the nation. This is the unfinished business of President Suharto's "New Order" (1967-1998).
The taboo on allocating and admitting responsibility was broken in 2000 when President Abdurrahman Wahid made a public apology to the victims, acknowledging that groups affiliated with the Islamic organization he headed, Nahdlatul Ulama, were involved in the massacres. However, much else remains shrouded in denial and mystery.