“Sorcerer” Killings in Banyuwangi: A Re-Examination of State Responsibility for Violence

Herriman, Nicholas

doi:10.1080/10357820701196692

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…64 There is a dark history of anti-communist violence in Banyuwangi, with communist stigma leading to a massive massacre in the district. 65 During the trial, judges faced immense pressures from anti-communist mobs protesting outside the court. 66 The court showed unjust legal reasoning, with a lack of evidence of Budi Pego's alleged communist activities and spreading of propaganda.…”

Section: The Victims and Judicialisation Of Authoritarian Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Constitutional Struggles and the Court in Indonesia’s Turn to Authoritarian Politics

Wiratraman

2022

Federal Law Review

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Indonesia’s politics has changed dramatically during Jokowi’s administration. Numbers of scholars argued this situation turns to a ‘new model of authoritarianism’ or declining democracy. The situation is generally referred to as the strengthening of authoritarian politics. Meanwhile, in such situation, the role of the judiciary is the key to balancing power in authoritarian politics. However, in reality, efforts to encourage constitutional struggle through the judiciary will easily reverse the situation to lose its independence. The court could play a significant role in authoritarian politics. This phenomenon has been called the ‘judicialisation of authoritarian politics’. This article dissects how the process of authoritarian political institutionalisation through law and the courts has occurred in the two decades after Suharto’s reforms. Then it examines how civil society changes and the democracy movement have made it possible to advance constitutional rights in the context of Indonesia’s cartel politics and the judicialisation of authoritarian politics. The legal argument for such judicial practice is that authoritarianism has been increasingly institutionalised, facilitating oligarchy networks in a cartelised political system, so that law and the judiciary merely work to strengthen the chain of impunity.

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Section: The Victims and Judicialisation Of Authoritarian Politicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Constitutional Struggles and the Court in Indonesia’s Turn to Authoritarian Politics

Wiratraman

2022

Federal Law Review

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“…In 1998 Indonesia, economic crisis, mass protests and violence brought about the end of the authoritarian regime of President Soeharto after three decades of rule. Local residents in Banyuwangi interpreted the lack of police and army response to demonstrations televised from the major cities as an ‘opportunity’ ( kesempatan ) to crack down on sorcerers (Herriman , ). One of those killed in the ensuing violence was a ‘sorcerer’ named Ruslan.…”

Section: Sorcery In Banyuwangimentioning

confidence: 99%

The Morbid Nexus: Reciprocity and Sorcery in Rural East Java

Herriman

2014

Australian J of Anthropology

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For the past few decades, the idea that witchcraft and sorcery are closely linked with the experience of capitalism has proven captivating. Leading international anthropologists, such as the Comaroffs, Geschiere, Ong and Taussig have argued for the modernity of the supernatural. They have demonstrated that, instead of declining in the modern period, beliefs and practices associated with evil spirits and magic are regularly invoked to explain the experience of capitalism. As useful as this approach is, focusing on capitalism's connection with evil spirits and magic does not necessarily imply a break from the classical anthropological accounts of reciprocity. In Banyuwangi, a district of Java, Indonesia, harmful magic is deeply embedded in reciprocity and local relationships as much as in relationships of capitalism. In other words, these classical accounts of intimate ties between harmful magic and reciprocity can be usefully married with the ideas of the modernity of the supernatural.

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“…On the one hand, the opposition to the New Order government has described the state as the actor most responsible for this incident and the community as the victim (Cribb, 2001(Cribb, , 2002Parker, 2003). Moreover, there is a perception that the New Order is just a scapegoat (Colombijn & Lindblad, 2002;Herriman, 2007bHerriman, , 2009Herriman, , 2012.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Researchers approach the events of the 1998 sorcerers massacre differently. First, the research looks at the role of the state in the 1998 Banyuwangi sorcerers massacre (Herriman, 2007b;Retsikas, 2006). These researchers looked at the sociocultural basis of dissociation and the reasons behind the terror perpetrated by the state apparatus.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Remembering the 1998 Indonesian Sorcerers Massacre: Memory of Tragedy and Trauma in Intan Andaru’s Perempuan Bersampur Merah (Woman in Red Scarf)

Andalas¹,

Qur’an²

2021

rupkatha

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After the collapse of the New Order government, in the 1998-1999, hundreds of people who were considered to be sorcerers were killed, especially in Banyuwangi. In the obscurity, Intan Andaru has narrated these events into her work. Her novel, Perempuan Bersampur Merah (Woman in Red Scarf), tells massacre story form the voiceless accused sorcerer’s point of view. This article aims to discuss the representational character of the 1998 Indonesian sorcerer massacre as depicted in the work of fiction. This research uses a psycho-historical approach. The data collection technique was done by using a note-taking technique. The analysis technique is carried out by the stages of presenting data, reducing data, and drawing conclusions. The results showed that there was no authentic evidence to support the accusation that the person who was killed was actually a sorcerer. As a result, cultural trauma is an important part of the psychological suffering experienced by the victim’s family. This trauma cannot be erased because the stigmata as a descendant of a sorcerer will always be attached to the victim’s family. This novel revives the social and cultural memorial structure of the 1998 Indonesian massacre in the form of individual aesthetic mediation to activate historical memory.

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“Sorcerer” Killings in Banyuwangi: A Re-Examination of State Responsibility for Violence

Cited by 9 publications

References 22 publications

Constitutional Struggles and the Court in Indonesia’s Turn to Authoritarian Politics

Constitutional Struggles and the Court in Indonesia’s Turn to Authoritarian Politics

The Morbid Nexus: Reciprocity and Sorcery in Rural East Java

Remembering the 1998 Indonesian Sorcerers Massacre: Memory of Tragedy and Trauma in Intan Andaru’s Perempuan Bersampur Merah (Woman in Red Scarf)

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