THE Indonesian Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) urged the US yesterday to release secret files on the 1965-66 anti-communist massacres.

While the US government has never revealed the full degree of its complicity in the mass murder of millions of communists and alleged sympathisers, many historians say the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was deeply involved.

Indonesia’s human rights commission asked President Barack Obama last month to declassify CIA files ahead of a groundbreaking conference on the military terror campaign ordered by General Suharto.

The purge led to the overthrow of elected president Sukharno and more than 30 years of dictatorship.

Kontras co-ordinator Haris Azhar said the 1965-66 pogrom was “the mother of all violence in Indonesia” and its effects are still felt despite the taboo on open discussion.

Britain was also massively involved in the slaughter.