Group of “mysterious men” pressure police into canceling May 1998 documentary in Solo

In yet another sad example of the Indonesian police being unwilling to stand up to extremists, a screening of a documentary about the May 1998 riots that was scheduled to take place in Solo, Central Java last Thursday night was cancelled at the last minute after a group of “unknown men” entered the venue and demanded that it be shut down.

The screening was a part of an event called “Acara Panggung Rakyat” (“The People’s Stage”) being held at Gedung Djoeang 45 in Solo and organized by KontraS (The Commission for Missing People and Victim of Violence) and several other groups as a part of their ‪#‎MasihIngatMei‬ city tour meant to raise awareness about the human rights violations that took place in many Indonesian cities during the May 1998 riots. The event included a number of performances including music, readings and speeches.

After the event was disrupted by the unidentified protesters, the police said they could not assure the security of the event should it be raided by a mass organization. 

“The police came and demanded that the event should be canceled,” KontraS activist Indah Nurmasari told Tempo on Thursday.

Indah said the demand was made despite the fact that organizers had already notified the police about the event previously. The organizers then negotiated with the police, who finally allowed the event to continue, but only on the condition that some parts of it be cancelled, including the screening of the documentary.

Tempo noted that the spokesperson for the Surakarta Islamic People’s Soldiers (LUIS), Endro Sudarsono, just happened to be at the scene. But he claimed to not know what the event was about and was “just there with friends” checking it out.

The police have been similarly pressured to cancel many events in Indonesia recently, or have allowed mass organizations to intimidate organizers into cancelling their events. Often these events have had to do with the 1965 anti-communist purge and mass killings that took place in Indonesia, but other events that have been seen as “leftist” have also been targeted. 



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