Banda Aceh – The Commission for Disappeared Persons and Victims of Violence (KontraS) Aceh, held a discussion and the launch of the Virtual Human Rights Museum, Thursday, January 21, 2021, through a Zoom Meeting.

 

This discussion activity presented speakers: Ali Nursahid as Program Director of the Munir Human Rights Museum, then writer and researcher Raisa Kamila, and KontraS Aceh Coordinator Hendra Saputra moderated by Zoelmasry, a journalist for Kompas Daily.

This museum is a collaborative program of KontraS Aceh with Asia Justice and Rights (AJAR) and Transitional Justice Asia Network (TJAN). The coordinator of KontraS Aceh, Hendra Saputra, said that this digital museum puts forward narratives from survivors, both direct victims and families left by victims during the conflict since the implementation of military operations in Aceh, a dozen years ago.

"We present many stories of those who survived despite losing half of their lives with their families who were victims of the conflict," said Hendra.

Meanwhile, KontraS Aceh's Advocacy and Campaign Division, Azharul Husna explained, the theme 'Lorong Memories' was originally a memorialization event that has been held since 2017 and 2019 as a campaign to refuse to forget. This memorialization is made physically, containing memories in various languages, ranging from photographs, installations, ornaments, paintings, and murals to sound art.

"However, because last year was in a pandemic, we held activities virtually this time, and became the theme for the Virtual Human Rights Museum," said Husna.

To be able to visit the digital gallery, the public can access the page http://museumham.kontrasaceh.or.id/ There are three main themes: Enforced Disappearance, Torture, Mass massacres, and Murder of Acehnese Figures. In each of these themes, KontraS presents a series of Aceh conflict events as outlined in the form of narratives, infographics, and video graphics.

"This museum is of course still in progress, we will continue to develop and complete the data in the future. We invite all members of the public to contribute to providing information and data because this museum is a shared property,” he said.

Caring for Collective Memories of the Past

The Program Director of the Munir Human Rights Museum, Ali Nursahid, on that occasion appreciated the Lorong Memories as a collective effort of the people who still care about the condition of human rights by documenting the events of the Aceh conflict in the past so that it can be widely accessed.

“The condition of human rights in Indonesia has not improved. Therefore, the existence of a museum is important to provide a learning space for us, to interpret today's situation," said Ali Nursahid.

According to him, today's struggle for knowledge and political power causes historical narratives to only emerge from the elite, while there is not much room for victim narratives. Therefore, in his experience of managing the Munir Human Rights Museum, Ali realized that it was important to use the existing medium to introduce human rights from a wider variety of perspectives to millennials, including the narrative of victims who had not been heard until now.

He also said that Munir's Human Rights Museum itself also provides a medium to convey narratives through podcasts. "And there are other platforms that we must know and use to spread the narrative," he concluded.

Meanwhile, researcher and writer Raisa Kamila also said the same thing. Efforts to record the history of the past can be presented in various mediums. He has chosen to write stories about the past in Aceh in the form of literary works. Together with the Women's Writing Association collective, Raisa et al produced a collection of short stories entitled Tank Merah Jambu, 2019.

"With research, we will know that history is not black and white as we read so far," he said.

The launching of the Virtual HAM Museum was interspersed with reading a poem by AA Manggeng entitled 'The Lost in the Stormy Season' by Cut Putri. In addition, the discussion participants were also treated to acoustic music performances by Amoysyah and Friends.