Identity, representations, religion, and apologizing for past wrongdoings: Muslim discourse about Indonesia's 1965–66 massacres of communists. (27th June 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Putra, Idhamsyah Eka; Wagner, Wolfgang; Rufaedah, Any; Holtz, Peter
• Is Part Of: Journal of community & applied social psychology. Volume 29:Number 6(2019)
• Page Start: 492
• Page End: 503
• Publication Date: 2019-06-27
• Subjects: collective blaming -- dehumanization -- demonization -- past maltreatment; Social psychology -- Periodicals; Community psychology -- Periodicals; Interpersonal relations -- Periodicals; 302
• DOI: 10.1002/casp.2419
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1052-9284

Abstract

Abstract: Since 1965, in Indonesia, people labelled as communists and their descendants have been mistreated. Recently, there has been an issue to apologize to them, but up until now, no official apology has been offered by the Indonesian government. The present study aims to understand how communism is perceived in Indonesia and why communism attributes labelled to a person can lead to negative effects, such as social exclusions. We interviewed 23 Muslims living in Jakarta (i.e., majority group) and used a thematic analysis to organize and describe the data. We found that Muslims who see communists as non‐believers view communist members as dangerous and a threat for the unity of the Republic of Indonesia. Among participants with such beliefs, the past maltreatments to accused communists are justified and legitimate; any apology toward the victims is considered not needed. The findings are discussed in the context of collective blaming and group essentialization, and ways to solve the problems are suggested.