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The End of Silence
In the late 1960s, between one and two million people were killed by Indonesian president Suharto's army in the name of suppressing communism-and more than fifty years later, the issue of stigmatisation is still relevant for many victims of the violence and their families. The End of Silence presents the stories of these individuals, revealing how many survivors from the period have been so strongly affected by the strategy used by Suharto and his Western allies that these survivors, still afraid to speak out, essentially serve to maintain the very ideology that led to their persecution.
- GenresHistory
220 pages, Hardcover
Published April 11, 2017
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About the author
Soe Tjen Marching
11 books55 followersSoe Tjen Marching (lahir di Surabaya, Jawa Timur, 23 April 1971; umur 39 tahun) adalah seorang Indonesianis, penulis, dan feminis. Ia memperoleh gelar Ph.D.nya dari Universitas Monash, Australia dengan menulis disertasi tentang otobiografi dan buku harian perempuan-perempuan Indonesia. Ia telah diundang sebagai dosen tamu di berbagai Universitas di Australia, Britania dan Eropa.
Soe Tjen banyak menulis artikel di berbagai suratkabar Indonesia maupun asing, cerita pendek, dan juga membuat komposisi musik. Ia pernah memenangi beberapa kompetisi penulisan kreatif di Melbourne - Australia. Salah satu cerita pendeknya telah diterbitkan oleh Antipodes, sebuah jurnal sastra terkemuka di Amerika Serikat. Selain itu, ia juga seorang komponis penting di Indonesia, yang karya-karyanya telah dipagelarkan di Asia, Australia, Eropa dan Amerika. Sebagai seorang komponis, ia pernah memenangi kompetisi tingkat nasional di Indonesia pada 1998. Sebuah komposisinya, "Kenang" (2001) diterbitkan sebagai bagian dari sebuah CD, "Asia Piano Avantgarde: Indonesia" yang dimainkan oleh pianis tersohor dari Jerman, Steffen Schleiermacher. CD ini telah beredar di Amerika dan Eropa. Pada Juni 2010, karya musiknya memenangkan kompetisi Internasional avant-garde yang diadakan di Singapura.
Novel Soe Tjen, berjudul Mati Bertahun yang Lalu, diterbitkan oleh Gramedia pada akhir tahun 2010. Novel ini diilhami oleh pengalaman pribadi Soe Tjen terjangkit kanker 3 kali.
Soe Tjen Marching juga sering bekerja sama dengan suaminya, Angus Nicholls, seorang peneliti sastra Jerman di Queen Mary University of London.
Soe Tjen banyak menulis artikel di berbagai suratkabar Indonesia maupun asing, cerita pendek, dan juga membuat komposisi musik. Ia pernah memenangi beberapa kompetisi penulisan kreatif di Melbourne - Australia. Salah satu cerita pendeknya telah diterbitkan oleh Antipodes, sebuah jurnal sastra terkemuka di Amerika Serikat. Selain itu, ia juga seorang komponis penting di Indonesia, yang karya-karyanya telah dipagelarkan di Asia, Australia, Eropa dan Amerika. Sebagai seorang komponis, ia pernah memenangi kompetisi tingkat nasional di Indonesia pada 1998. Sebuah komposisinya, "Kenang" (2001) diterbitkan sebagai bagian dari sebuah CD, "Asia Piano Avantgarde: Indonesia" yang dimainkan oleh pianis tersohor dari Jerman, Steffen Schleiermacher. CD ini telah beredar di Amerika dan Eropa. Pada Juni 2010, karya musiknya memenangkan kompetisi Internasional avant-garde yang diadakan di Singapura.
Novel Soe Tjen, berjudul Mati Bertahun yang Lalu, diterbitkan oleh Gramedia pada akhir tahun 2010. Novel ini diilhami oleh pengalaman pribadi Soe Tjen terjangkit kanker 3 kali.
Soe Tjen Marching juga sering bekerja sama dengan suaminya, Angus Nicholls, seorang peneliti sastra Jerman di Queen Mary University of London.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
February 15, 2018
This book is a riveting read for anyone with an interest in Indonesia or the manipulation of history.
During the rule of Indonesia’s inaugural president, Sukarno, a group of generals were plotting to remove him for being too left-wing. One morning in 1965, the bodies of five of these generals were found in a well and members of the Presidential Guard took over part of the capital, Jakarta. The head of special forces, Major-General Soeharto, promptly subdued the Guards, assumed control and effectively put Sukarno under house arrest.
Soeharto quickly promulgated a story that communists were responsible and unleashed a murderous witch-hunt: the final death toll was around million mark. Many victims were not communist, merely members of student or worker organisations, or not activist at all. Any discussion of the initial murders and subsequent purge was actively suppressed and this applies today, despite the ousting of Soeharto in 1998.
Soe Tjen Marching's book presents first-hand accounts of victims and family members who suffered from the witch-hunt and its aftermath. For her the purge is very personal: “My mother’s trauma of witnessing her husband being dragged from our home by Soeharto’s troops… makes her believe that silence is a virtue. I am almost the complete opposite… I believe that I have the responsibility to reveal these stories so that more and more people find out about what happened…”
Marching wanted to reveal how the purge was perceived by surviving victims and their families, and how they have been affected since. Her book achieves that aim excellently, comprising an analysis of Soeharto’s campaign and its legacy, followed by chapters devoted to the stories of direct victims, their siblings, their children and grandchildren respectively, and a reflective epilogue.
The accounts she presents make gripping and sometimes harrowing reading. While often amazed at how resilient people could be, I was sobered by stories of brutality, families broken up, careers ruined, inner pain, and secrets kept fearfully for half a century. The difficulties of direct victims and their families did not end with release. Identity cards were stamped to show victims’ past status, employment became near-impossible to secure, and they were subject abuse and even violence, with lasting negative consequences.
Marching explains how Soeharto and his allies implanted widespread fear in Indonesian society so his troops’ actions could gain public approval and support. Soeharto’s anti-communist campaign permeated Indonesian life right down to his demise and beyond, with the official line on the purge being replicated in school texts and propaganda films.
The author argues that the powerful in Indonesia (which still includes perpetrators and their cronies), by sustaining fear, have turned the victims and families into their agents in maintaining the silence, while themselves remaining demonised and stigmatised.
Marching hopes this collection of victims’ accounts will help prevent the destruction of memories of 1965-1966. Her closing words reflect exactly my own estimation of her work: “This book has given the space for the survivors and their families to challenge the chronic stigma maintained by the perpetrators and their cronies: it is time to end the silence.”
During the rule of Indonesia’s inaugural president, Sukarno, a group of generals were plotting to remove him for being too left-wing. One morning in 1965, the bodies of five of these generals were found in a well and members of the Presidential Guard took over part of the capital, Jakarta. The head of special forces, Major-General Soeharto, promptly subdued the Guards, assumed control and effectively put Sukarno under house arrest.
Soeharto quickly promulgated a story that communists were responsible and unleashed a murderous witch-hunt: the final death toll was around million mark. Many victims were not communist, merely members of student or worker organisations, or not activist at all. Any discussion of the initial murders and subsequent purge was actively suppressed and this applies today, despite the ousting of Soeharto in 1998.
Soe Tjen Marching's book presents first-hand accounts of victims and family members who suffered from the witch-hunt and its aftermath. For her the purge is very personal: “My mother’s trauma of witnessing her husband being dragged from our home by Soeharto’s troops… makes her believe that silence is a virtue. I am almost the complete opposite… I believe that I have the responsibility to reveal these stories so that more and more people find out about what happened…”
Marching wanted to reveal how the purge was perceived by surviving victims and their families, and how they have been affected since. Her book achieves that aim excellently, comprising an analysis of Soeharto’s campaign and its legacy, followed by chapters devoted to the stories of direct victims, their siblings, their children and grandchildren respectively, and a reflective epilogue.
The accounts she presents make gripping and sometimes harrowing reading. While often amazed at how resilient people could be, I was sobered by stories of brutality, families broken up, careers ruined, inner pain, and secrets kept fearfully for half a century. The difficulties of direct victims and their families did not end with release. Identity cards were stamped to show victims’ past status, employment became near-impossible to secure, and they were subject abuse and even violence, with lasting negative consequences.
Marching explains how Soeharto and his allies implanted widespread fear in Indonesian society so his troops’ actions could gain public approval and support. Soeharto’s anti-communist campaign permeated Indonesian life right down to his demise and beyond, with the official line on the purge being replicated in school texts and propaganda films.
The author argues that the powerful in Indonesia (which still includes perpetrators and their cronies), by sustaining fear, have turned the victims and families into their agents in maintaining the silence, while themselves remaining demonised and stigmatised.
Marching hopes this collection of victims’ accounts will help prevent the destruction of memories of 1965-1966. Her closing words reflect exactly my own estimation of her work: “This book has given the space for the survivors and their families to challenge the chronic stigma maintained by the perpetrators and their cronies: it is time to end the silence.”
August 11, 2022
This was an excellent look into the victim’s and their family member’s stories!! I first became interested in the 1965 Genocide in Indonesia after reading Vincent Bevin’s ‘The Jakarta Method.’ After reading it, I wanted to know more. This book was just excellent. While ‘The Jakarta Method’ looked more at what happened from a geopolitical standpoint, ‘The End of Silence’ by Soe Tjen Marching looks at what happened in this era from a deeply personal lens. Both the geopolitical lens and the personal victims’ stories are valuable to getting a good picture of what happened in Indonesia in 1965. I also recommend watching the documentaries ‘40 Years of Silence: An Indonesian Tragedy - Genocide’ and Joshua Oppenheimer’s ‘The Act of Killing’ and ‘The Look of Silence.’
P.S. While this book is pretty expensive since it’s a university book, it’s worth it I promise you. If you really want to understand what happened in Indonesia in 1965, this book filled with victims’ life stories is indispensable.
P.S. While this book is pretty expensive since it’s a university book, it’s worth it I promise you. If you really want to understand what happened in Indonesia in 1965, this book filled with victims’ life stories is indispensable.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews