Country: Indonesia

Group: Balinese

Date Finalized: February 29, 2020

Team: Giselle Chavez Lopez (lead), Leilani Alva, Johanna McCombs

Content warning: homicide, physical violence

Approximate Time Period: 1946-1966

In 1946 the Balinese, who were mostly Hindus, attempted to break away from Dutch rule and a Muslim Indonesia. Indonesia gained independence from the Dutch in 1949, and the independence made Indonesia the world’s largest Muslim country. Violence during these times resulted from land disputes, caste issues, and economic inequalities (Gellately & Kiernan, 2003). When General Suharto seized power in a military coup in 1965, he then started a large and violent attack on the Partai Komunis Indonesia, a mostly unarmed communist opposition (Genocide Studies Program, n.d.). The Australian Embassy estimated in December 1965 that there had been “about 1,500 assassinations a day since September 30th…[and] the U.S. estimated that in total there were 400,000 killed” (Genocide Studies Program, n.d.). In Java and Bali the PKI had won many votes, so people associated with those areas were specifically targeted. Mostly Muslim youth groups did most of the killing, and two officials of the Muslim youth group told U.S. representatives “their organizations intends to kill ever PKI member they can catch” (Genocide Studies Program, n.d.). From 1965-1966, approximately 100,000 Balinese were thought to be killed (Gellately & Kiernan, 2003; Minority Rights Group, n.d.). There is ample evidence that such targeted killings took place.  However, there are no official estimates for how many Balinese were killed during this time.  Data quality is judged as a 2.

Sources

  1. Minority Rights Group (n.d.). Balinese and Hindus. Retrieved from https://minorityrights.org/minorities/balinese-and-hindus/
  2. Gellately, R., & Kiernan, B. (Eds.). (2003). The specter of genocide: Mass murder in historical perspective. Cambridge university press.
  3. Genocide Studies Program (n.d.). Indonesia. Retrieved February 29, 2020, from https://gsp.yale.edu/case-studies/indonesia