Indonesian killings of 1965–66

The Indonesian mass killings of 1965–1966 (also variously known as the Indonesian massacres, Indonesian genocide, Indonesian Communist Purge, Indonesian politicide, or the 1965 Tragedy) were large-scale killings and civil unrest which occurred in Indonesia over many months, targeting communist sympathizers, ethnic Chinese and alleged leftists, often at the instigation of the armed forces and government. Initially it began as an anti-communist purge following a controversial coup attempt by the army group (30 September Movement) in Indonesia. The most widely accepted estimates are that 500,000 to more than one million people were killed, with some estimates as high as two to three million. The purge was a pivotal event in the transition to the "New Order" and the elimination of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) as a political force. The upheavals led to the fall of President Sukarno and the commencement of Suharto's three-decade authoritarian rule.

The failed coup released pent-up communal hatreds which were fanned by the Indonesian Army, which quickly blamed the PKI. Communists were purged from political, social, and military life, and the PKI itself was banned. The massacres began in October 1965, in the weeks following the coup attempt, and reached their peak over the remainder of the year before subsiding in the early months of 1966. They started in the capital, Jakarta, and spread to Central and East Java and, later, Bali. Thousands of local vigilantes and army units killed actual and alleged PKI members. Although killings occurred across Indonesia, the worst were in the PKI strongholds of Central Java, East Java, Bali, and northern Sumatra. It is possible that over one million people were imprisoned at one time or another.

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