Indonesia starts reparations programme for victims of its bloody past

FILE PHOTO: Indonesia's President Joko Widodo speaks about the planned new capital Nusantara, at Ecosperity Week in Singapore June 7, 2023. REUTERS/Edgar Su/File Photo

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Tuesday launched an unprecedented reparation programme for victims of past human rights abuses by the state, a project critics fear will compensate only a small fraction of those who suffered.

Jokowi, as the president is known, in January expressed deep regret over 12 deadly events from 1965-2003 which include a purge by the military of suspected communists and their sympathisers, during which at least 500,000 people were killed and more than a million jailed, according to historians and activists.