These two men are my grandfathers. Djauhar Arifin Santosa is my mother’s father, and Boentardjo Amaroen is my father’s father. They knew each other long before my parents got married – maybe since the Independence War. D. A. Santosa was a member of PETA (Defenders of the Homeland), the Volunteer Army, and Boentardjo was a guerilla fighter in the Klaten area under the leadership of Dr.  Tjokronegoro. Following Independence, D. A. Santosa and Boentardjo did not pursue a career in the army, but became Taman Siswa teachers (Students’ Garden, a Javanese educational movement).

In 1965, they were captured in the same month, November 1965. D.A. Santosa was held in Semarang, tried in Cilacap and sentenced to twenty years imprisonment. Boentardjo was held in Wirogunan, Yogyakarta, and never returned after he disappeared sometime between February and April 1966.

Their freedom was taken because they were accused of rebelling against the lawful government. Subsequently that government was overthrown because it was said to be involved in the events of 1965. There is no logical reason for what happened during the 1965 Tragedy and afterwards.

I am telling the story of D. A. Santosa and Boentardjo Amaroen because history can never be concealed. Because I want them to be here, in my life, with my family and my friends. And because they are my grandfathers.

Danang Sutasoma
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