Mass killing probe

President Wahid will not be holding his own inquiry

By Richard Galpin in Jakarta

Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid has for the first time said he would support an investigation into the massacre of hundreds of thousands of alleged communists in the 1960s.

Speaking in an interview with state-run television, the president admitted that most of the killings were carried out by members of the Islamic organisation, Nahdlatul Ulama, which he used to lead until he became president last October.

People were too afraid to discuss the mass killings in public until recently.

But the democratically elected government which came to power five months ago has made it clear that human rights abuses of the past must be investigated and those responsible brought to justice.

Mass slaugter

The killings began with an abortive coup in September 1965.

Reliable reports put the death toll at up to 500,000 people.

Former Indonesian President Suharto, who took control of the country after the attempted coup, is believed to have been behind the purge, which the US Central Intelligence Agency has described as one of the worst mass murders of the 20th century.

In his television interview, President Wahid did not say the government would set up its own formal inquiry.

But he said he backed efforts by individuals or groups who wanted to investigate for themselves what really happened.

His own Islamic organisation, the Nahdlatul Ulama carried out much of the killing, for which he has already apologised.