Home > Events > Legacies of Violence in Indonesia and East Timor: a Workshop

Legacies of Violence in Indonesia and East Timor: a Workshop

A Workshop Co-sponsored by the Indonesian Studies Program of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies, the International Human Rights Program at UCLA School of Law, the International Institute, and the Department of History, UCLA

Saturday, April 16, 2011
8:30 AM - 5:00 PM
1457 Law School
UCLA Campus
Los Angeles, CA 

Visit conference website for more information

The last decade has seen a surge of activity aimed at addressing the legacies of past human rights abuse and mass violence in Indonesia and East Timor. Those efforts, stimulated by the fall of the authoritarian Suharto regime in 1998 and by a rising global trend of support for ‘transitional justice,’ have transformed the political and social terrain in both countries.

It remains an open question, however, just how effective these initiatives have been in remedying past violations, and how useful the model of ‘transitional justice’ has been as a guide. To date, for example, there has been no meaningful effort to bring to justice those responsible for the violence of the past, or to compensate its many victims.

Bringing together scholars and human rights activists from Indonesia, East Timor, and North America, this two-day Workshop at UCLA will explore these problems by mapping recent ‘transitional justice’ initiatives, assessing the obstacles they have encountered, and offering practical proposals for a path forward.  It will also consider what lessons the experience of Indonesia and East Timor may offer for other societies emerging from long periods of human rights abuse and misrule.

Program for Saturday, April 16

8:30-9:00
 Breakfast  and Announcements
 
Session III: Indonesia 1965-66 
 Moderator – John Roosa (History, University of British Columbia)
 
9:00-10:30
-Mary Zurbuchen (Ford Foundation), "Toward a Social History of Indonesia's 1965 Upheaval"
-Dahlia G. Setiyawan (History, UCLA), "Better Dead than Red? Suppression and Reconstruction of Surabaya's PKI Past"
 
10:30-10:45
 Coffee Break
 
10:45-12:15
-Baskara T. Wardaya (Universitas Sanata Dharma, Yogyakarta), "Providing Space for the Voiceless: Transitional Justice and Narratives on the 1965 Tragedy"
-Brad Simpson (History and International Affairs, Princeton), "Documenting Mass Violence: History, Truth and Accountability"
 
12:15-1:00
 Lunch 
 
Session IV: Papua and Aceh 
 Moderator – Mary Zurbuchen (Ford Foundation)
 
1:00-3:00
-Neles Tebay (Fajar Timur Theological School, Jayapura), "Indigenous Papuans' efforts for ending the conflict with Indonesia"
-Haris Azhar (Commission for the Disappeared and the Victims of Violence - KontraS), "Transitional Justice in Aceh, Moving Nowhere"
-Kimberly Twarog (Women’s Studies, UCLA), "Gendering Trauma Recovery in Aceh, 1976-2010"
 
3:00-3:15
 Coffee Break
 
3:15-5:00
 Open Forum
  Moderators – Geoffrey Robinson (History, UCLA) and David Kaye (Law, UCLA)
 
5:00-6:00
 Dinner for participants
 
6:15 – 9:30
 Reception, screening, and discussion at Bridges Theater, Melnitz Hall of "40 Years of Silence: An Indonesian Tragedy" – a film by Robert Lemelson

Cost: Free and open to the public but RSVP requested.

For more information please contact

Barbara Gaerlan
Tel: 310-206-9163
www.international.ucla.edu

Sponsor(s): Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Department of History, International Human Rights Program at UCLA School of Law