Title: The Indonesian Mass Killings, 1965-66: Review of the Literature

Submitted by: Charles A. Coppel, Department of History, The University of Melbourne, Australia

Despite their large scale, the Indonesian massacres of 1965-66 have received surprisingly little scholarly or journalistic attention. This paper reviews the literature on the scale of the killings, their evaluation, and the explanations offered for them. It argues that these mass killings are better viewed as 'politicide' - the targeting of people for their political affiliation and belief - than as genocide. It concludes by examining the moves to revisit the history of the 1965-66 mass killings which have become possible since the fall of President Soeharto in May 1998.

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Carol Burnett
Asialink
The University of Melbourne
Parkville 3052
Victoria AUSTRALIA

Phone: 61 - 3 - 9349 1899
Fax : 61 - 3 - 9347 1768

Email: c.burnett@asialink.unimelb.edu.au