Ubud Writers and Readers Festival pressured to call off panels, exhibition and screening linked to 50th anniversary of massacre of alleged communists

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Indonesia’s largest writers’ festival has been forced to cancel a series of events marking the 1965 massacre of alleged communists, after threats by authorities to revoke its operating permit.

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The announcement by organisers on Friday was unprecedented in the 12-year history of the Ubud Writers and Readers Festival and signalled heightened sensitivities in Indonesia around the 50th anniversary of the mass killings, in which about 500,000 people died.

The festival’s founder and director, Janet DeNeefe, said she was “extremely disappointed” to cancel the events, which included three panels, an art exhibit and a book launch.

The Guardian understands the screening of an award-winning documentary on the subject, The Look of Silence, had already been cancelled after threats of arrest by police and security services.

“1965 is an event that has and continues to influence many Indonesians and as such, we chose to dedicate a proportion of the program to enriching our understanding about this, through themes of reconciliation and remembrance,” DeNeefe said.



“We hoped that these panel sessions would enable conversations to take place that continue Indonesia on its journey of healing, particularly for those whose lives were so severely affected.”

Pressure had been applied by government, police and military officials, and local authorities were threatening to revoke the festival’s permit, she said.

The Act of Killing, another documentary on the massacres by the same filmmaker, Joshua Oppenheimer, was screened in past festivals.

Another viewing of the Look of Silence, at the Jakarta Theological Seminary, was cancelled on 30 September when police claimed thugs had threatened to attack the screening.

Previous years of the Bali festival have also featured talks and exhibitions about the 1965-6 killings, which were carried out by paramilitary groups but with military backing in some regions. About a million accused leftists were imprisoned.

Guardian Masterclasses is holding a writers’ workshop at the festival.

Aaron Connelly, an Indonesia specialist at Sydney’s Lowy Institute, said the official intervention was surprising. “You would think police would be more sensitive to the fact this would not look good internationally for Indonesia,” he said.

Indonesia still had “a very free public square”, he said, but the election of president Joko Widodo last year had seen “a trend in anti-foreign sentiment”.

“The government and the population are struggling with issues of free expression more than in the past,” Connelly said.

Widodo said in September the Indonesian government had “no intention to issue an apology” for the murders, which remain little-known among Indonesians or else regarded as “necessary at the time”.

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This month two British journalists stood trial in the archipelago after being caught allegedly filming a documentary while on tourist visas. In the past such crimes have seen journalists only deported or jailed briefly.

According to Reporters Without Borders (RWB), a press freedom advocacy group, nine Indonesians are also facing possible two-year jail terms or a fine for their work on another unauthorised documentary.

The country slipped six places in RWB’s press freedom rankings this year to 138th in the world.