Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-7drxs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-17T17:01:09.076Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

19 - Half a Century of Genocide and Extermination

Indonesia, 1965–1966; East Timor, 1975–1999; and West Papua, 1963–2020

from Part III - The Nation-State System during the Cold War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2023

Ben Kiernan
Affiliation:
Yale University, Connecticut
Wendy Lower
Affiliation:
Claremont McKenna College, California
Norman Naimark
Affiliation:
Stanford University, California
Scott Straus
Affiliation:
University of California, Berkeley
Get access

Summary

This chapter examines comparatively three instances of extreme political violence in Indonesia and Indonesian-occupied territory over more than fifty years: the mass killing of roughly half a million communists and leftists in 1965–6; the unnatural death or killing of at least 100,000 people in East Timor from 1975 to 1999; and the systematic physical and cultural decimation of the indigenous population of West Papua from 1963 to 2020. It describes the unique dimensions of each case – including key patterns and variations in the violence, the historical and political conditions that gave rise to it, the identities of the perpetrators and victims, and differences in the degree and nature of resistance. At the same time, it highlights the remarkable similarities and continuities across the three cases. It argues that, despite their differences, these three cases form part of a single broad pattern of extermination and genocide perpetrated by the Indonesian state, driven by competition over valuable resources and facilitated by the acts and omissions of powerful foreign actors.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×