Watch65
Watch65 is a Netherlands-based voluntary association that is committed to the ongoing fight to uphold justice for the victims of gross violations of human rights in Indonesia. Founded in 2018, Watch65 brings together activists, writers, journalists, researchers and political exiles who participated as volunteers in the landmark International People’s Tribunal on Crimes Against Humanity in Indonesia 1965. Held in The Hague in 2015, IPT65 was one of the most significant transitional justice initiatives undertaken by the civil society to address the mass atrocities that were directed at alleged members, supporters and sympathizers of the Partai Komunis Indonesia, as well as organizations affiliated to it. This systematic destruction of the Indonesian Left was the first in a series of brutality that the Indonesian state has regularly exacted on its own citizens.
In the final report, the judges presiding during the IPT65 considered it established that the Indonesian state, particularly through the military, was guilty of the following crimes against humanity: mass killings, imprisonment, enslavement, torture, enforced disappearance, sexual violence and persecution through exile. It provided the following recommendations that the Indonesian state: (a) apologize to all victims, survivors, and their families; (b) investigate and prosecute all crimes against humanity; (c) ensure appropriate compensation and reparation to victims and survivors. To date, successive Indonesian governments have continued to disregard these injunctions.
As a collective, Watch65 endeavours to fight against the violent single story that the Indonesian state preserves through its official historiography. This prohibitory narrative institutes taboos around key historical moments, systematically distorts records of past events and denies alternative interpretations of history. Watch65 focuses its work on cultural activities that inspirit the recommendations of the IPT65. The association has routinely hosted book discussions with authors publishing on 1965, both for academic audiences and wider publics. These included works by historians David T. Hill, Asviwarman Adam, Geoffrey Robinson, John Roosa, as well as writers Soe Tjen Marching, Magdalena Sitorus, Martin Aleida, and memoirist Tedjabayu Sudjojono. In February 2023, along with Ons Archief and Internationaal Instituut voor Sociale Geschiedenis (IISG), Watch65 co-organized the seminar Reactivating Archives of the Indonesian Left in the Netherlands. The following May, Watch65 collaborated with the Universiteit van Amsterdam for the event Decolonial Dialogues: The Dance that Makes You Vanish, which featured Rachmi Diyah Larasati’s work on the cultural reconstruction in postgenocide Indonesia. Watch65 has also facilitated the BBC UK, CNA, and NOS in connecting with Indonesian exiles in Europe for their documentary programs.
In 2024, Watch65 initiated the website, GerakIngatan, which is dedicated to curating and narrating archives and documents of the Indonesian leftist movements. Moving these memories is a practice that forms the basis for alternative politics and imaginings of a progressive future.
Exposities
