CONFIDENTIAL
INDONESIA
Report by HM Embassy, Jakarta.
General Observations
It is difficult to fit British, or even international concepts of freedom into an oriental society like Indonesia, which has missed out on 19th Century liberalism, and where the people genuinely believe in the superior value of con- sensus, corporate responsibility and the rights of the "just prince".
Right No.
(i)
In round figures the Indonesian Government admit that the follow- ing are still detained without trial as a result of the 1965 disturbances:
Rating suggested by Post
7
Category A
2,000
Category B
27,000
Category C
(Total
population 133,000,000)
Category X
2,000
Total
31,000
These are to be released at the rate of 10,000 per year, finishing in 1979. Released detainees may be restricted or compulsorily trans- migrated to other parts of Indonesia. There are in practice few limits on the detention and interrogation of suspects without formal charges being laid.
Sy
Comment by South-East Asia Dept People who have been detained without trial in isolated places some of them for as long as ten years - have been "released". But many of them from Java (where most of them are likely to be from) have been informed that they will be compulsorily trans- ferred back to their locations of de- tention (with their families if they so wish) where they will have, as be- fore, to support their own existence. There seems at present no likelihood of their being allowed to rejoin society.
CONFIDENTIAL
/(ii)
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