Budi Yuwono Imam Chourmain:
They were trained to stab at sacks filled with human bodies

Tens of thousands of anti-communist youths were trained to take part in military operations aimed at eliminating the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). Budi Yuwono Imam Chourmain, 73, is a former Islamic Student Association (HMI) activist and former member of the Gadjah Mada University Students Regiment, a group recruited by Army Special Forces Regiment (RPKAD) commander, Sarwo Edhie Wibowo. Budi Yuwono trained with the RPKAD at their special training camp at Batujajar.

For three and a half years, he abandoned his university studies to hunt down communists. When Suharto proclaimed that the operation to wipe out the PKI had been achieved, Budi bid Sarwo Edhie goodbye and went back to school. The following are excerpts of Budi's story as told to Tempo. He asked that some parts of the story remain unpublished.

October 6, 2015