Coming to Terms with the World

This article seeks to elaborate on Hannah Arendt’s conception of political reconciliation as a means of coming to terms with the mass killings of civilians suspected and accused of being members or sympathizers of the Indonesian Communist Party (Partai Komunis Indonesia, PKI). Known as the 1965 tragedy, this episode of massacres remains an enduring historical burden that continues to fragment and divide Indonesian society. Since the fall of Soeharto in 1998, successive Indonesian governments have attempted reconciliation processes, all of which have failed. From the perspective of transitional justice, it has been argued that these failures are often attributed to the government’s inability to rehabilitate victims’ rights and hold perpetrators accountable. Contrary to this view, I argue that the failure to come to terms with the 1965 tragedy is due not to a lack of punitive or restorative measures but rather to an excessive or disproportionate focus on individual actors – victims or perpetrators – at the expense of the common world. Drawing on the lens of Arendt’s political thought, this article proposes that reconciliation should instead center on the common world – a social reality constituted and inhabited by free and equal individuals. In this light, political reconciliation is understood as coming to terms with a world marked by a dark and painful past. Such an understanding presupposes the capacity of those dwelling within this common world – particularly victims and perpetrators – to engage in reflective judgment concerning what has occurred and to assume collective responsibility for building and sustaining a shared future. Accordingly, this article will first examine the 1965 mass killings as the dark side of the ‘Indonesian’ common world, followed by an exposition of Hannah Arendt’s proposal for coming to terms with such tragedies. The final section will outline two key elements of political reconciliation, that is reflective judgment and collective responsibility

Communism · Indonesian · Politics · Punitive damages · Transitional justice · Asian Studies and History · Forgiveness and Related Behaviors · Hannah Arendt's Political Philosophy