The suburb of Lubang Buaya (which literally translates as crocodile hole) is well known to Indonesians of a certain age as the site where history records that seven army officers were murdered by members of the Gerakan September Tiga Puluh (Thirtieth of September movement - more commonly referred to as G30S) in the early hours of the 1st October 1965.

The official history states that G30S consisted of National Indonesian Armed Forces members who were reported to be disgruntled with the policies and leadership of then President Soekarno and attempted a coup d’etat to seize power. In the days and weeks that followed the murders of the seven army officers G30S were increasingly linked with the Communist Party of Indonesia (Parti Komunisi Indonesia or PKI as it is commonly referred to) which was reported to have been the mastermind behind the massacre.

Armed Forces commander Suharto (and later President of Indonesia) initiated an immediate anti-communist purge that would see an estimated 500,000 to 3,000,000 Indonesian lives lost over 1965/1966 as a result of large-scale killings and civil unrest. Although PKI members were targeted other affected groups included Communist sympathisers, alleged leftists, ethnic Chinese and ethnic Abangan Javanese (many of whom were reported to be sympathetic with the politics of the Indonesian Communist party).

These killings would ultimately pave the way for the Suharto Government to take power and rule Indonesia for the next 31 years before finally resigning as a result of wide scale rioting and demonstrations due to a sharp economic downturn from the Asian financial crisis and increasing public anger.

The official version of the Lubang Buaya massacre reported by the Suharto Government became “immortalised” in the 1984 docudrama Pengkhianatan G30S/PK (translated as treachery of G30S/PKI). According to some Indonesians I have spoken with this became mandatory viewing each year on the anniversary of the massacre whilst the increasingly unpopular Suharto government was in power.

Lubang Buaya site

Situated in Cipayung, South-east Jakarta Lubang Buaya has, as you might expect, a dedicated site commemorating the October 1st massacre which consists of the following locations:

• Sacred Pancasila Monument
• Sacred Pancasila Museum
• Museum of PKI Treason

The Sacred Pancasila monument

To commemorate the Lubang Buaya massacre the Suharto Government erected the Sacred Pancasila monument in 1969 which features life size bronze statues of each of the murdered armed forces member stood in an arc in front of the symbol of the Indonesian nation - a 17m tall bronze Garuda.

The murdered armed forces members consist of 6 generals and 1 lieutenant; from left to right these are as follows:

• Brigadier General Sutoyo Siswomiharjo
• Brigadier General Donald Isaac Pandjaitan
• Lieutenant General R. Soeprapto
• General Ahmad Yani
• Major General Mas Tirtodarmo Haryono
• Major General Siswondo Parman
• First Lieutenant Pierre Andries Tendean

On the front of the monument is a relief sculpture which depicts the official narrative of the actions of the PKI since Indonesian Independence.

The disused well

You can see that of all the figures situated on the Sacred Pancasila monument General Ahmad Yani is pointing directly ahead. The location to which he points is the disused well where the bodies of the slain armed forces members were dumped by the rebels after they were executed.

A nearby installation is located in the building where these armed forces officers were allegedly tortured before being shot and their bodies unceremoniously disposed of in the disused well (both General Yani and Brigadier General Donald Isaac Pandjaitan had been killed at their respective homes and their bodies subsequently driven to Lubang Buaya where the rebels base was located).

There are those who have questioned the veracity of the accounts of torture that were reported to have taken place there - not least of which were criticisms of the reporting directly from President Soekarno himself!

The bodies of the slain armed forces members were recovered on August 4th during an operation conducted by the Indonesian Armed Forces which was personally supervised by then commander Suharto.

After their burial at Kalibata War Heroes cemetery in Jakarta these slain officers would receive posthumous promotions in rank and be subsequently referred to as heroes of the revolution.

The Sacred Pancasila Museum

Opened in 1981 by then President Suharto this features a number of dioramas of the events that precede and post-date the October 1st massacre/coup d’etat as well as photographs relating to that period.

Seeing the photographs of the armed forces members who were murdered on October 1st, such as this one of General Haryono with his family, was quite saddening.

I can’t help but think of such a senseless waste and to what end? To pave the way for anti-communist purges that would ultimately consume the lives of between 500,000 to 3,000,000 Indonesians over the next year or so? No politics, wherever they may sit on the ideological spectrum, could ever justify such a toll yet that price was paid.

Decades later there are countless thousands, if not millions, of voices whose story will never get to be told unlike those heroes of the revolution whose deaths have been immortalised for future generations.

Makes you think how often the same pattern must have been repeated throughout the course of human history.

The museum of PKI treason

Opened in 1990 this particular museum has a large number of dioramas which depict the actions of the PKI prior to and after Indonesian Independence, in particular acts of sabotage, worker intimidation, violence, murder and battles with the Police and Armed Forces.

Given that this was built during the Suharto government it is difficult to know how much of what is depicted here is historically accurate or tainted by propaganda (as is often the case with officially proscribed narratives wherever you are in the world).

The dioramas though are well constructed, very detailed and highly engaging.

Additional locations

There are further sites, within the museum grounds, which, amongst other features, display the car used by general Yani as well as the Saracen armoured troop carrier that was used to transport the recovered bodies of the slain armed forces members for subsequent burial at Kalibata War Heroes Cemetery in South Jakarta.

There’s also a replica of the 1961 Dodge truck that was used to transport the slain body of Brigadier General Donald Isaac Pandjaitan:

Situated nearby to the 1961 Dodge truck are the buildings that were reported to have been used by the rebels as their command post:

As well as their public kitchen:

Getting there

The museum site and grounds are located at Jl. Raya Pondok Gede Lubang Buaya, Cipayung, Jakarta 13810, Indonesia which is situated on the south-eastern boundary of Jakarta.

This unfortunately is not reachable by public transport (as is often the case with many sites that are worth visiting in Jakarta) and getting there requires alternative means of transportation such as booking a recommended taxi service via bluebird, grab or GoCar, using the Gojek/Grab motorcycle service or, if you’re lucky enough to have kind, interested Indonesian friends catching a lift with them instead :)

Be warned though: this IS Jakarta and traffic is likely to be very, very heavy.

I visited Lubang Buaya on a Sunday thinking that that the roads might be relatively quiet but boy was I wrong!

So, with that warning in mind, be prepared to take some time to reach this destination.

I can’t recall how much the entrance fee to the museum cost but it was relatively low and definitely worth paying for a visit to a location that forms an interesting, if not brutal, part of contemporary Indonesian history.

Postscript

The official history of the October 1st 1965 coup d’etat has been challenged by an academic publication commonly referred to as the Cornell Paper as well as in other publications such as this document. 

There are Indonesians who I have spoken with who believe that Suharto and his followers were directly behind the Lubang Buaya massacre for the purposes of instigating an anti-communist purge that would help them ascend to power.

There are others theories I have heard that involve the CIA aiding Suharto (as certain Governments in the West allegedly believed Soekarno would be best removed from power) but, for the time being at least, given that there is no official questioning by the Indonesian Government of the long held narrative of the origins and perpetrators of the massacre these theories must be treated as speculative.

Given the contempt that Suharto is held with by many Indonesians and their seeming lack of desire to reflect on that era (at least to the best of my knowledge) it doesn’t seem likely that any official investigation into the events of that period in Indonesian history will be forthcoming any time soon.

Whatever the truth of the events of the night of September 31st/early morning of October 1st I would recommend that visitors to Jakarta, native Indonesian or otherwise, should take time to visit Lubang Buaya and contemplate the horror of what took place there (and how this set the scene for what would follow with the anti-communist purges and their subsequent death toll).

If nothing else it should make you realise just how blessed you are to live in the times we are experiencing right now - even with the difficulties and challenges they may present.