A major literary festival in Bali, Indonesia, was forced to cancel events related to a 1960s anti-communist purge, the organizers said yesterday, after authorities threatened to revoke its operating permit.
Five programs, including several discussion panels, a book launch and film screening were scrapped from the annual Ubud Readers and Writers Festival, which is scheduled to open on Wednesday, said Hanna Nabila, one of the festival’s spokespeople.
“The authorities had refused to grant us permits to hold those programs without giving reasons. We are very disappointed but also worried that we might be forced to call off the entire festival if we proceed,” she added.
A statement on the festival Web site said the cancellations came “after increased scrutiny from local authorities” and that the organizers had been involved in “extensive negotiations.”
“The festival ... was advised that should certain sessions proceed, it would run the risk of the entire festival being canceled,” the statement said.
This month marks 50 years of one of the most violent mass killings of the 20th century.
At least 500,000 people died in the killings across the archipelago that started after then-general Suharto put down a coup on Oct. 1, 1965, which the authorities blamed on communists.
Security forces supported local groups in conducting the massacre over several months, with many suspected of even weak links to the Indonesian Communist Party killed and hundreds of thousand imprisoned, some for years.
Suharto became president in March 1967 after the failed coup and ruled Indonesia with an iron fist for 32 years. The necessity of the killings to rid the country of the communist threat became part of the official narrative and the perpetrators were left unpunished.
Amnesty International in a report it published last month urged Indonesia to do more to provide justice for victims and their families.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
‘DELUSIONAL’: Targeting the families of Hamas’ leaders would not push the group to change its position or to give up its demands for Palestinians, Ismail Haniyeh said Israeli aircraft on Wednesday killed three sons of Hamas’ top political leader in the Gaza Strip, striking high-stakes targets at a time when Israel is holding delicate ceasefire negotiations with the militant group. Hamas said four of the leader’s grandchildren were also killed. Ismail Haniyeh’s sons are among the highest-profile figures to be killed in the war so far. Israel said they were Hamas operatives, and Haniyeh accused Israel of acting in “the spirit of revenge and murder.” The deaths threatened to strain the internationally mediated ceasefire talks, which appeared to gain steam in recent days even as the sides remain far
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The