Geoffrey B Robinson - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Geoffrey B Robinson

Taylor & Francis eBooks, Feb 16, 2010

Princeton University Press eBooks, Oct 1, 2019

This chapter explores the related problems of establishing a fair and truthful record of 1965–66 ... more This chapter explores the related problems of establishing a fair and truthful record of 1965–66 and securing justice for the victims of those events. It begins by recounting briefly the efforts that have been made since 1998 by Indonesian officials as well as historians, activists, survivors, artists, and journalists to excavate the past. It makes clear that in the first few years after Suharto's resignation, there was a significant new openness in both official and public attitudes toward the events of 1965–66, fueled in part by a general spirit of reform, and also by the availability of many new avenues for sharing information and political opinion. The chapter then contrasts these hopeful signs with the evidence of a serious backlash against the new openness, starting as early as 2000. It argues that the backlash has entailed a dogmatic refusal by state officials to countenance any meaningful initiatives in the arena of policy change, truth gathering, or justice, which in turn has enlivened and empowered resistance to reform by a variety of conservative religious and political groups.

Princeton University Press eBooks, Oct 1, 2019

This book explores one of the largest and swiftest, yet least examined, instances of mass killing... more This book explores one of the largest and swiftest, yet least examined, instances of mass killing and incarceration in the twentieth century—the shocking antileftist purge that gripped Indonesia in 1965–66, leaving some five hundred thousand people dead and more than a million others in detention. The author of this book sets out to account for this violence and to end the troubling silence surrounding it. In doing so, the book sheds new light on broad, enduring historical questions. How do we account for instances of systematic mass killing and detention? Why are some of these crimes remembered and punished, while others are forgotten? The book is a detailed account of a pivotal period in Indonesian history.

cccvi, 524 hlm. ; ii.; 21 c

Choice Reviews Online, Oct 1, 2010

Princeton University Press eBooks, Oct 1, 2019

This chapter considers whether the army and those who supported its campaign to vilify, imprison,... more This chapter considers whether the army and those who supported its campaign to vilify, imprison, torture, and kill PKI members and other leftists did so on the back of a lie. After weighing the evidence, the chapter reveals that they did so quite deliberately. The chapter lays the foundation for that case in two parts. It opens with an account of the events of October 1 and their aftermath, based on the few historical facts that are not in dispute. It then outlines the various competing accounts of the movement, highlighting the implausibility and inconsistency of the official version, but also looking critically at the alternatives.

Princeton University Press eBooks, Oct 1, 2019

Princeton University Press eBooks, Oct 1, 2019

This chapter examines the role of foreign powers in the October 1, 1965 incident. It argues that ... more This chapter examines the role of foreign powers in the October 1, 1965 incident. It argues that the wider international context, in particular the rhetoric and logic of the Cold War and anticolonial nationalism, affected the contours of Indonesian politics, making it more militant and polarized. In addition, that general atmosphere, together with the actions of major powers elsewhere in the region and beyond, contributed to political conditions inside Indonesia in which a seizure of power by the army was much more likely to occur. In creating this atmosphere of polarization and crisis, several major powers played some part, including China. Yet it was overwhelmingly the United States, the United Kingdom, and their closest allies that played the central roles.

Princeton University Press eBooks, Oct 1, 2019

This chapter offers a different perspective from mainstream scholarship regarding the mass violen... more This chapter offers a different perspective from mainstream scholarship regarding the mass violence of 1965–66. It emphasizes the historical forces, actors, and contingencies that were most important in facilitating and shaping the violence of 1965–66. The chapter begins with a brief look at Indonesia's colonial history, before tracing the emergence of leftist and nationalist movements in the early twentieth century, the Japanese occupation from 1942 to 1945, the struggle against Dutch rule that culminated in independence in 1949, and the first tumultuous decade and a half of independence. It then examines in more detail each of the principal political actors that emerged in the postindependence period and the tensions that developed among them. Finally, the chapter provides a description of the final year before the alleged coup when these tensions came to a head, and shows how a number of key decisions and events helped to create the preconditions for the events of October 1, 1965, and the violence that followed.

South East Asia Research, 2015

In Itty Abraham, Meredith Weiss, and Edward Newman, eds. Political Violence in South and Southeast Asia, 2010

Conventional narratives of East Timor’s modern history portray the Indonesian invasion of 1975 as... more Conventional narratives of East Timor’s modern history portray the Indonesian invasion of 1975 as a cruel interruption of the country’s natural path toward independence. A closer reading suggests that the invasion altered the political terrain in more complicated ways – creating a notion of East Timorese identity that had until then been only dimly imagined, while rendering inaudible a fledgling political discourse – about education, health, and social justice. With the invasion, that discussion was supplanted by one that focused almost exclusively on questions of national identity and survival – a discourse captured in the slogan “ Independence or Death!”Yet if the invasion was critical in altering political discourse and practice inside East Timor, it was made more likely by a unique conjuncture of conditions outside the territory. Most conspicuously, the invasion played out against the backdrop of the Cold War and the ‘loss’ of Vietnam, both of which conditions predisposed the Un...

Journal of Genocide Research, 2017

Oxford Handbooks Online, 2012

The second half of the twentieth century was marked by the phenomenon of state-sponsored violence... more The second half of the twentieth century was marked by the phenomenon of state-sponsored violence against secessionist rebellions. That was certainly true in Asia in newly independent states, including India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Burma, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines, which all sought to quell one or more armed movements for autonomy or independence by resorting to violence. This article examines, from a comparative perspective, four instances of such violence. Focusing on East Pakistan, the Karen areas of Burma, West Papua in Indonesia, and East Timor, it begins with an empirical account of each case, examining the origins and dynamics of the violence, the perpetrators, and the victims.

Indonesia, 1992

There were also reports of severe malnutrition and starvation at this time. Suara Indonesia (Denp... more There were also reports of severe malnutrition and starvation at this time. Suara Indonesia (Denpasar), November 11,1957. A 1956 report on employment conditions in Bali painted a rather pessimistic picture of local economic prospects: "Rapid population growth and growing pressure on agricultural land, without any real development in the fields of trade, finance and industry, will most certainly lead to greater poverty in the coming years.

Taylor & Francis eBooks, Feb 16, 2010

Princeton University Press eBooks, Oct 1, 2019

This chapter explores the related problems of establishing a fair and truthful record of 1965–66 ... more This chapter explores the related problems of establishing a fair and truthful record of 1965–66 and securing justice for the victims of those events. It begins by recounting briefly the efforts that have been made since 1998 by Indonesian officials as well as historians, activists, survivors, artists, and journalists to excavate the past. It makes clear that in the first few years after Suharto's resignation, there was a significant new openness in both official and public attitudes toward the events of 1965–66, fueled in part by a general spirit of reform, and also by the availability of many new avenues for sharing information and political opinion. The chapter then contrasts these hopeful signs with the evidence of a serious backlash against the new openness, starting as early as 2000. It argues that the backlash has entailed a dogmatic refusal by state officials to countenance any meaningful initiatives in the arena of policy change, truth gathering, or justice, which in turn has enlivened and empowered resistance to reform by a variety of conservative religious and political groups.

Princeton University Press eBooks, Oct 1, 2019

This book explores one of the largest and swiftest, yet least examined, instances of mass killing... more This book explores one of the largest and swiftest, yet least examined, instances of mass killing and incarceration in the twentieth century—the shocking antileftist purge that gripped Indonesia in 1965–66, leaving some five hundred thousand people dead and more than a million others in detention. The author of this book sets out to account for this violence and to end the troubling silence surrounding it. In doing so, the book sheds new light on broad, enduring historical questions. How do we account for instances of systematic mass killing and detention? Why are some of these crimes remembered and punished, while others are forgotten? The book is a detailed account of a pivotal period in Indonesian history.

cccvi, 524 hlm. ; ii.; 21 c

Choice Reviews Online, Oct 1, 2010

Princeton University Press eBooks, Oct 1, 2019

This chapter considers whether the army and those who supported its campaign to vilify, imprison,... more This chapter considers whether the army and those who supported its campaign to vilify, imprison, torture, and kill PKI members and other leftists did so on the back of a lie. After weighing the evidence, the chapter reveals that they did so quite deliberately. The chapter lays the foundation for that case in two parts. It opens with an account of the events of October 1 and their aftermath, based on the few historical facts that are not in dispute. It then outlines the various competing accounts of the movement, highlighting the implausibility and inconsistency of the official version, but also looking critically at the alternatives.

Princeton University Press eBooks, Oct 1, 2019

Princeton University Press eBooks, Oct 1, 2019

This chapter examines the role of foreign powers in the October 1, 1965 incident. It argues that ... more This chapter examines the role of foreign powers in the October 1, 1965 incident. It argues that the wider international context, in particular the rhetoric and logic of the Cold War and anticolonial nationalism, affected the contours of Indonesian politics, making it more militant and polarized. In addition, that general atmosphere, together with the actions of major powers elsewhere in the region and beyond, contributed to political conditions inside Indonesia in which a seizure of power by the army was much more likely to occur. In creating this atmosphere of polarization and crisis, several major powers played some part, including China. Yet it was overwhelmingly the United States, the United Kingdom, and their closest allies that played the central roles.

Princeton University Press eBooks, Oct 1, 2019

This chapter offers a different perspective from mainstream scholarship regarding the mass violen... more This chapter offers a different perspective from mainstream scholarship regarding the mass violence of 1965–66. It emphasizes the historical forces, actors, and contingencies that were most important in facilitating and shaping the violence of 1965–66. The chapter begins with a brief look at Indonesia's colonial history, before tracing the emergence of leftist and nationalist movements in the early twentieth century, the Japanese occupation from 1942 to 1945, the struggle against Dutch rule that culminated in independence in 1949, and the first tumultuous decade and a half of independence. It then examines in more detail each of the principal political actors that emerged in the postindependence period and the tensions that developed among them. Finally, the chapter provides a description of the final year before the alleged coup when these tensions came to a head, and shows how a number of key decisions and events helped to create the preconditions for the events of October 1, 1965, and the violence that followed.

South East Asia Research, 2015

In Itty Abraham, Meredith Weiss, and Edward Newman, eds. Political Violence in South and Southeast Asia, 2010

Conventional narratives of East Timor’s modern history portray the Indonesian invasion of 1975 as... more Conventional narratives of East Timor’s modern history portray the Indonesian invasion of 1975 as a cruel interruption of the country’s natural path toward independence. A closer reading suggests that the invasion altered the political terrain in more complicated ways – creating a notion of East Timorese identity that had until then been only dimly imagined, while rendering inaudible a fledgling political discourse – about education, health, and social justice. With the invasion, that discussion was supplanted by one that focused almost exclusively on questions of national identity and survival – a discourse captured in the slogan “ Independence or Death!”Yet if the invasion was critical in altering political discourse and practice inside East Timor, it was made more likely by a unique conjuncture of conditions outside the territory. Most conspicuously, the invasion played out against the backdrop of the Cold War and the ‘loss’ of Vietnam, both of which conditions predisposed the Un...

Journal of Genocide Research, 2017

Oxford Handbooks Online, 2012

The second half of the twentieth century was marked by the phenomenon of state-sponsored violence... more The second half of the twentieth century was marked by the phenomenon of state-sponsored violence against secessionist rebellions. That was certainly true in Asia in newly independent states, including India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Burma, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines, which all sought to quell one or more armed movements for autonomy or independence by resorting to violence. This article examines, from a comparative perspective, four instances of such violence. Focusing on East Pakistan, the Karen areas of Burma, West Papua in Indonesia, and East Timor, it begins with an empirical account of each case, examining the origins and dynamics of the violence, the perpetrators, and the victims.

Indonesia, 1992

There were also reports of severe malnutrition and starvation at this time. Suara Indonesia (Denp... more There were also reports of severe malnutrition and starvation at this time. Suara Indonesia (Denpasar), November 11,1957. A 1956 report on employment conditions in Bali painted a rather pessimistic picture of local economic prospects: "Rapid population growth and growing pressure on agricultural land, without any real development in the fields of trade, finance and industry, will most certainly lead to greater poverty in the coming years.