Hidden Letters

Soe Hok Gie is remembered as an important figure in the 1966 student movement. Why did he part ways with other leaders of the movement? Why did he condemn the killings of PKI members, whose very organization he sought to disband?

October 11, 2016

TUCKED away among piles of documents belonging to Yosep Adi Prasetyo, a member of the Press Council who usually goes by Stanley, were folded yellowing letters. The letters were written by Soe Hok Gie, a 1966 student activist, who died while climbing Mount Semeru, on December 16, 1969, the eve of his 27th birthday.

All the letters were neatly typed on quarto-sized papers. Some of them have never been made public because Arief Budiman, Soe's older br

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