Exhibition View: Solo Exhibition at Kedai Kebun Forum, Yogyakarta
Adegan Yang Hilang: 1982 – 1985 (The Missing Scene: 1982 – 1985)
Installation and video
Variable Dimensions
2019
This is another story about fear. The 32-year heyday of the New Order reveals a long history of recurring fear—an effective method for maintaining power. Fear operates through basic survival mechanisms: people who live in constant anxiety are easier to control, social friction is more easily ignited, and communal hatred can be directed toward targeted identities.
One such episode occurred between 1982 and 1985, when bodies with bound hands began appearing in public spaces—markets, narrow alleys, garbage sites, highways, and sewage gutters. These killings were linked to the presence of paramilitary street gangs known as gali, whose existence was intertwined with the state. Their relationship with the military-dominated government was mutually beneficial, involving economic distribution, security enforcement, and political mobilization.
However, political shifts turned these groups into threats. Following the Banteng Square riots in 1982, they became targets of elimination under the pretext of restoring order. The display of corpses in public spaces functioned as shock therapy—a deliberate demonstration of state power.
Known as PETRUS (mysterious shootings), this operation claimed thousands of lives. The case remains unresolved, reflecting Indonesia’s enduring legacy of unaddressed violence and silenced histories.
Arief Budiman 