[ENGLISH] Exploring the Stories of 65 Executioners Eliminating Trauma

The trick is to break the machete used to be out of shape and also continue to practice the rituals and readings suggested by the kiai who once galvanized them

Every September, the Indonesian nation is always reminded of the bloody events surrounding the 1965 incident. Especially in areas that are one of the centers of the incident, such as in the East Java region.

Menjelang pecahnya peristiwa gerakan tiga puluh September, Kediri, Nganjuk, Trenggalek, Bojonegoro dan sekitarnya, kebencian kaum abangan terhadap kaum santri yang berlanjut pada tindakan kebrutalan dan kekerasan yang melibatkan kedua belah pihak terpampang seperti dalam lembaran-lembaran sebuah buku. Kemarahan kaum santri memuncak akibat gangguan dan ancaman kaum abangan yang terpapar ideologi komunisme. Nyawa kemudian menjadi barang yang seakan tak berharga.

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In a corner of the Nganjuk area, specifically in the Prambon district, in the lead-up to the 1965 PKI rebellion, tensions were rising in the community. Blasphemy against the santri, combined with the seizure of land from landowners, including santri elites, allowed the abangan people influenced by communist ideology to act with such audacity. They created confrontations with the santri community.

Traditional art performances, which should have awakened a sense of art and beauty in the audience, were instead turned into a means of agitation and blasphemy against beliefs. Landowners were also unsettled because their lands were under threat of seizure. The Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) called for the land grabs based on the Basic Agrarian Law (UUPA) of 1960, for which the implementing regulations had not yet been issued. 

It was the PKI maneuver that incited the Abangan Javanese to become brutal and seemingly lose their Javanese identity by insulting the beliefs of the santri and seizing land. After the murder of the generals in Jakarta on September 30, 1965, the fighters in the Prambon area were prepared to stop the actions of the Abangan, who continued to disrupt public order and threaten the lives of the santri. The executioners were also prepared. They were trained in mystical martial arts and disciplined with special practices that were recognized among the santri. Like it or not, they were chosen to kill their fellow countrymen. Like it or not, there was no other choice. Either they were killed, or they killed. The situation was similar to a civil war.

One of the executioner's sons from Prambon said that his father used to be assigned to cut the throats of people accused by the PKI in the Brenggolo area, Kediri. Tens to hundreds of necks were slashed with machetes. The corpses that had become carcasses were then buried in the same pit. His father departed along with 11 other men from the same village and was transported in a vehicle.

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However, like intelligence operations, after completing assignments, they are left alone after the task is completed. They finally returned home on foot from Kediri to their village of Prambon. Knowing that a group of people were on foot, before the boat crossing on the edge of the Brantas river, they were shouted at by the PKI fugitives and were about to be arrested. However, one of them replied with a shout, they were from a certain group of mass organizations who wanted to return to their village. They also did not tell us that they had finished eradicating the PKI followers.

After the operation to suppress PKI members was stopped, it left trauma for many parties. One of the parties who was chased by trauma was none other than the executioners themselves. How do the executioners remove the trauma after having committed murder and the loss of life? The executioner's son from Prambon said, he said what his parents did, the way was to break the machete used to be shapeless and also continue to practice the rituals and readings suggested by the kiai who once galvanized them.

Zaenal Eko/Melipirnews