​Political prisoners in Indonesia were a varied bunch. Some were farmers, or blue-collar labourer who just happened to be in the wrong place at an unfortunate time, then somehow got arrested and exiled. Some were real politicians whose political party happened to be at the losing side, and so they just have the accept the consequences of being rice field worker. Some were heroic students who were sympathisers of the losing party I mentioned earlier.

Some were super-bright intellectuals who, again, suddenly found themselves on the wrong side, then were given no option other than to endure being a farmer. Some are soldiers who picked the wrong commanders. Some soldiers were deliberately sneaked in to be ‘cockroaches’. 

Of all these people, some would go to the trouble of keeping a diary.  

This is a photograph of one of the records they create. Because books were scarce, they must fit two lines of writing into one row. And for efficiency, all lines must have aligned left and right. The contents vary – daily notes, research hypothesis on whatever’s accessible, song books, manual for building construction, poetry, love letters. What unified them was that they have passed censorship.

This is also a photograph of a remarkable research material for screenplay I am currently developing. Hopefully the story will take form this coming year. 

Ratrikala Bhre Aditya
#1965setiaphari #living1965​