Indonesian Muslim killings: Revisiting the forgotten Talang Sari tragedy (1989) and its impact in post authoritarian regime

Abstract

Although the Talang Sari tragedy as a part of the representation of Indonesian Muslim oppression during the authoritarian regime, it is relatively lesser known for Indonesian public. The avoidance of the most Indonesian Muslim who did not support it is one of those facts. Indeed, they did a less attention to talk and to articulate the case to the public. This paper intends to revisit the case of the Talang Sari as one of the unsolved human rights violation during the authoritarian regime. It is not only exploring the case and also examining the context of violence, but also tracing dynamic of the case during and post of authoritarian regime by the emergence of Islah agreement as cultural impunity to forget the past for many victims. The questions deals with in this paper are following: what kind of conditions that made the Talang Sari was happening in East Lampung in 1989, South Sumatra during the Suharto presidency? How did the Suharto regime control the discourse of the tragedy in Indonesian public that eventually encourage most Indonesian Muslim did not actively respond the killings? Although the reformasi era gives an opportunity break silences by asking justice to the current Indonesian government on human rights violation, why those cases, especially the Talang Sari, are unsolved? This paper divided into three parts to answering the questions. Firstly, it is to understand the case of Talang Sari by discussing the context of the New Order's policy on Indonesian Muslim and its political ideology. Secondly, it is to read deeply mass media in making discourse on the case as one of the triggers for most Indonesian Muslim did not respond it. Thirdly, it is to analyze the Islah agreement (reconciliation in Islamic term) as the primary factor that contributed why cultural impunity has seemingly embedded to bring justice to the victims of violence generally in the post of Suharto regime.