ABSTRACT
The 1965 anti-communist Tragedy in East Nusa Tenggara Province (NTT), Indonesia, left behind historical wounds that have not yet been addressed by either local society or the Indonesian government. The 1965 Tragedy had a profound and destructive impact on every aspect of life. People were caught, tortured, and killed without proper legal procedures. The killing of thousands of people and the repression of freedom has left a collective trauma in people’s lives. Victims of the 1965 Tragedy violence are not just individuals and their families, but also the entire nation because this incident created terror and paralyzed people from taking a critical attitude towards abuses of power.
The complex range of perpetrators and their varied motives require that all parties involved engage in a joint effort to seek healing for the nation. Cultural mechanisms are one way to provide healing at an individual level. However, cultural mechanisms alone will not allow structural healing because local culture itself has been permeated by terror and discrimination from the state (New Order regime) and from formal religious authorities. Holistic and structural healing requires a synthesis of strategies from formal religions, local culture, and the state.
