taabarang wrote: ↑Fri Aug 04, 2017 7:44 pm "It comes as no surprise when you consider that many of the men who committed or ordered the deaths of so many innocent people are still in positions of power,.."

Gosh, what other countries come to mind?

China? Vietnam? USA? I don't see it as comparable to here, for a start there was no unbroken continuation here and a lot of outside interference. The excesses of Democratic Kampuchea were condemned worldwide, while the massacres in Indonesia were ignored and forgotten. Despite the best efforts of China, ASEAN and the West, the leaders of DK never became anything again other than a warlords in the jungle. The Indonesian perpetrators never face any persecution, ten years later in 1975 they invaded East Timor and tried to commit another genocide, again with the West's tacit approval and little or no international attention or action.

JB I don't recall mentioning this country. Must have been on your mind.

Yeah, I should have added a "if you meant..." to it. The films did remind me a lot of "Enemies of the People" though, especially because both showed people acting out previous atrocities. Most of the Cambodians in that film didn't too proud of their actions though, while in the Joshua Oppenheimer Indonesia documentaries many really don't give a shit because they've never actually been pulled up about it, it was just their duty. Weird stuff.

John Bingham wrote: ↑Fri Aug 04, 2017 8:28 pm

taabarang wrote: ↑Fri Aug 04, 2017 7:44 pm "It comes as no surprise when you consider that many of the men who committed or ordered the deaths of so many innocent people are still in positions of power,.."

Gosh, what other countries come to mind?

China? Vietnam? USA? I don't see it as comparable to here, for a start there was no unbroken continuation here and a lot of outside interference. The excesses of Democratic Kampuchea were condemned worldwide, while the massacres in Indonesia were ignored and forgotten. Despite the best efforts of China, ASEAN and the West, the leaders of DK never became anything again other than a warlords in the jungle. The Indonesian perpetrators never face any persecution, ten years later in 1975 they invaded East Timor and tried to commit another genocide, again with the West's tacit approval and little or no international attention or action.

That's a good point you make about there being no continuation or outside interference after the Indonesian genocide. If fact if, as you probably already know, America and Britain knew it was coming but just let it happen.

Mao and Stalin are worthy of mention. Rwanda and Sudan.

During the Cambodian genocide there was plenty of "outrage" but no outside intervention until Vietnam invaded. How many former Khmer Rouge are still bopping around? Pol Pot lived till the late 90's without being brought to justice.

No, the West didn't, for the most part, give a damn what was going on in Indonesia because the commies were being knocked off. Couldn't one make the argument that "The Great Leap Forward" and "Cultural Revolution" were also ignored by the West?

I believe it comes down to humanity not giving a damn about each other no matter what nation state is the perpetrator. I suppose there will always be unspeakable acts committed in the name of, well, choose your poison.