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2 Incomplete Truth, Incomplete Reconciliation: Towards a Scholarly Verdict on Truth and Reconciliation Commissions

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The Road to Armageddon
This chapter is in the book The Road to Armageddon
23Incomplete Truth, Incomplete Reconciliation: Towards a Scholarly Verdict on Truth and Reconciliation CommissionsSarah ZwierzchowskiSince their emergence as political and legal institutions in South America in the 1980s, truth and reconciliation commissions have become the dom-inant international paradigm for resolving tensions and preventing further atrocities in the aftermath of intrastate conflicts. These truth commissions generally operate on a purely Western understanding of objective truth and reconciliation as a means of securing political unity, overriding traditional and alternative reconciliation practices. In the same vein, the commissions conclude by producing a report that serves to present a uniform narrative of the past and a commitment to future co-operation that is presumed to be unanimous. While truth commissions are upheld at an international level, major critiques of these processes revolve around the strict forms and narratives inherent in them. Truth commissions have an undeniable value, but these critiques are valid and should be considered. Both truth and reconciliation can be sought and enacted in a variety of ways, taking many different forms, but existing examples have not adequately mined alternative solutions, nor have they addressed the potential and necessity for multiplicities of truths and reconciliations.2
© David Webster

23Incomplete Truth, Incomplete Reconciliation: Towards a Scholarly Verdict on Truth and Reconciliation CommissionsSarah ZwierzchowskiSince their emergence as political and legal institutions in South America in the 1980s, truth and reconciliation commissions have become the dom-inant international paradigm for resolving tensions and preventing further atrocities in the aftermath of intrastate conflicts. These truth commissions generally operate on a purely Western understanding of objective truth and reconciliation as a means of securing political unity, overriding traditional and alternative reconciliation practices. In the same vein, the commissions conclude by producing a report that serves to present a uniform narrative of the past and a commitment to future co-operation that is presumed to be unanimous. While truth commissions are upheld at an international level, major critiques of these processes revolve around the strict forms and narratives inherent in them. Truth commissions have an undeniable value, but these critiques are valid and should be considered. Both truth and reconciliation can be sought and enacted in a variety of ways, taking many different forms, but existing examples have not adequately mined alternative solutions, nor have they addressed the potential and necessity for multiplicities of truths and reconciliations.2
© David Webster

Chapters in this book

  1. Front Matter i
  2. Table of Contents v
  3. Illustrations ix
  4. Abbreviations xi
  5. Acknowledgements xv
  6. Introduction: Memory, Truth, and Reconciliation in Timor-Leste, Indonesia, and Melanesia 1
  7. Incomplete Truth, Incomplete Reconciliation: Towards a Scholarly Verdict on Truth and Reconciliation Commissions 23
  8. Memory, Truth, and Reconciliation in Timor-Leste
  9. East Timor: Legacies of Violence 45
  10. Shining Chega!’s Light into the Cracks 63
  11. Politika Taka Malu, Censorship, and Silencing: Virtuosos of Clandestinity and One’s Relationship to Truth and Memory 79
  12. Development and Foreign Aid in Timor-Leste after Independence 93
  13. Reconciliation, Church, and Peacebuilding 109
  14. Human Rights and Truth 117
  15. Chega! for Us: Socializing a Living Document 121
  16. Memory, Truth-seeking, and the 1965 Mass Killings in Indonesia
  17. Cracks in the Wall: Indonesia and Narratives of the 1965 Mass Violence 131
  18. The Touchy Historiography of Indonesia’s 1965 Mass Killings: Intractable Blockades? 145
  19. Writings of an Indonesian Political Prisoner 155
  20. Local Truth and Reconciliation in Indonesia
  21. Gambling with Truth: Hopes and Challenges for Aceh’s Commission for Truth and Reconciliation 167
  22. All about the Poor: An alternative Explanation of the Violence in Poso 185
  23. Where Indonesia Meets Melanesia: Memory, Truth, and Reconciliation in Tanah Papua
  24. Facts, Feasts, and Forests: Considering Truth and Reconciliation in Tanah Papua 205
  25. The Living Symbol of Song in West Papua: A Soul Force to be Reckoned With 233
  26. Time for a New US Approach toward Indonesia and West Papua 261
  27. Memory, Truth, and Reconciliation in Solomon Islands
  28. The Solomon Islands “Ethnic Tension” Conflict and the Solomon Islands Truth and Reconciliation Commission: A Personal Reflection 279
  29. Women and Reconciliation in Solomon Islands 293
  30. Bringing it Home
  31. Reflecting on Reconciliation 299
  32. Conclusion: Seeking Truth about Truth-seeking 309
  33. Bibliography 325
  34. Index 345
  35. Contributors 359
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https://doi.org/10.1515/9781552389560-005

Chapters in this book

  1. Front Matter i
  2. Table of Contents v
  3. Illustrations ix
  4. Abbreviations xi
  5. Acknowledgements xv
  6. Introduction: Memory, Truth, and Reconciliation in Timor-Leste, Indonesia, and Melanesia 1
  7. Incomplete Truth, Incomplete Reconciliation: Towards a Scholarly Verdict on Truth and Reconciliation Commissions 23
  8. Memory, Truth, and Reconciliation in Timor-Leste
  9. East Timor: Legacies of Violence 45
  10. Shining Chega!’s Light into the Cracks 63
  11. Politika Taka Malu, Censorship, and Silencing: Virtuosos of Clandestinity and One’s Relationship to Truth and Memory 79
  12. Development and Foreign Aid in Timor-Leste after Independence 93
  13. Reconciliation, Church, and Peacebuilding 109
  14. Human Rights and Truth 117
  15. Chega! for Us: Socializing a Living Document 121
  16. Memory, Truth-seeking, and the 1965 Mass Killings in Indonesia
  17. Cracks in the Wall: Indonesia and Narratives of the 1965 Mass Violence 131
  18. The Touchy Historiography of Indonesia’s 1965 Mass Killings: Intractable Blockades? 145
  19. Writings of an Indonesian Political Prisoner 155
  20. Local Truth and Reconciliation in Indonesia
  21. Gambling with Truth: Hopes and Challenges for Aceh’s Commission for Truth and Reconciliation 167
  22. All about the Poor: An alternative Explanation of the Violence in Poso 185
  23. Where Indonesia Meets Melanesia: Memory, Truth, and Reconciliation in Tanah Papua
  24. Facts, Feasts, and Forests: Considering Truth and Reconciliation in Tanah Papua 205
  25. The Living Symbol of Song in West Papua: A Soul Force to be Reckoned With 233
  26. Time for a New US Approach toward Indonesia and West Papua 261
  27. Memory, Truth, and Reconciliation in Solomon Islands
  28. The Solomon Islands “Ethnic Tension” Conflict and the Solomon Islands Truth and Reconciliation Commission: A Personal Reflection 279
  29. Women and Reconciliation in Solomon Islands 293
  30. Bringing it Home
  31. Reflecting on Reconciliation 299
  32. Conclusion: Seeking Truth about Truth-seeking 309
  33. Bibliography 325
  34. Index 345
  35. Contributors 359
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