The US government knew people were being "delivered for slaughter" during a political purge in Indonesia during the 1960s, declassified documents reveal.
At least 500,000 people were killed between 1965 and 1966 and it is thought as many as three million could have lost their lives within a year. It was one of the worst massacres of the 20th century, but America and other nations remained silent.
US diplomatic staff describe the "slaughter" and "indiscriminate killings", exposing an intimate knowledge of the Indonesian army's operations to "completely clean up" the Communist Party and leftist groups. According to one from US embassy staff in East Java, dated 28 December 1965, "victims are taken out of populous areas before being killed and bodies are buried rather than thrown in river" as they had been previously. The telegram says prisoners suspected of being communists are also "being delivered to civilians for slaughter". Another document compiled by the US embassy's first secretary detailed a list of the communist leaders across the country and whether they had been arrested or killed.
A December 1965 cable from the US consulate in Medan in Sumatra said that Muhammadiyah preachers were telling people it was a religious obligation to "kill suspected communists". They were the lowest order of infidel, "the shedding of whose blood is comparable to killing chicken", the report said. The US cable said this was being interpreted as a "wide licence for killing".
Another telegram notes that people with no connection to the Communist Party were being killed by the youth arm of Nahdlatul Ulama because of "personal feuds". Other memo s mention ethnic Chinese being killed in the violence and their businesses being burnt down.
Brad Simpson, founder and director of the Indonesia and East Timor documentation project, pushed for the files' release
"These documents show in great detail just how aware US officials were of how many people were being killed," said Mr Simpson, noting "the US stance at the time was silence".
Human Rights Watch researcher Andreas Harsono also says his extensive research has found no public comments from the US government at the time about the killings.
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