Reckoning With A Bloody Past

Discussions on a final statement following the first national symposium on the 1965 tragedy needed an extra day to be completed. "The hardest part involved formulating a resolution on the incident," said National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) commissioner Nur Kholis, who was a member of the drafting team.

The team could not agree on the wording of the resolution. Symposium Committee Chair Army Lt. Gen. (ret.) Agus Widjojo insisted any plan to address the 1965 tragedy be an exclusively non-judicial path-namely, a reconciliation process.