…we will declare them as the country's citizens who had never betrayed the country.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - Indonesia will soon declare that 39 victims of gross human rights violations who have lived in exile ever since the September 30th Movement or G30S incident in 1965 are not traitors to the country.

President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) will make the announcement during the unveiling of the Non-Judicial Gross Human Rights Violation Resolution in June 2023, Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal, and Security Affairs, Mahfud MD, informed here on Tuesday.

"We will check one by one, even though they do not want to come home," he said.

"They do not want to come home, but we will declare them as the country's citizens who had never betrayed the country," he noted.

He explained that 19 ministerial-level officials and heads of non-ministerial government institutions will conduct efforts to expedite the non-judicial resolution of gross human rights violations.

This will include the statement that exiled gross human rights violation victims are not traitors.

According to Mahfud, the human rights violation victims, who were not involved in the G30S incident, are residing overseas to this day because they are not allowed to return to Indonesia.

Half of them were Indonesian nationals sent by President Soekarno to various countries from Europe to China to pursue their education before the G30S occurred.

Following the incident, they were barred from returning to Indonesia after finishing their education.

"There are still some of them overseas. We will invite them. They are not PKI (Indonesian Communist Party) members. They are victims because they were schooled and then not allowed to go home," Mahfud said.

The third Indonesian President, B.J. Habibie, was also among the G30S seclusion victims. However, in 1974, he met with President Soeharto in Germany and was invited to come home.

Mahfud said that the issue of treason against the country in relation to the G30S incident had already been resolved in court during the reformation era.

Related news: Rights body backs TNI chief allowing ex-PKI descendants to be soldiers
Related news: President calls on people not to disseminate slander








Translator: Mentari Dwi G, Fadhli Ruhman
Editor: Rahmad Nasution
Copyright © ANTARA 2023