English: Trisula means 'trident'. The Trisula Monument at Bakung commemorates the "cooperation between Brawijaya units and other army forces, the civil government and the people resulting in the eradication of attempts of the G.30.S/PKI to recompose its forces opposing the Republic of Indonesia".

The text refers to an army operation in the early years of Suharto's dictatorship, in June and July 1968. On one of the marble plaques is said further: "Through this historic monument may the spirit all people of Indonesia be aroused and be rooted in their souls to

• perseveringly uphold the purity of Pancasila (i.e. the state philosophy).
• perseveringly destroy the remnants of communism that wish to return to Indonesian soil.

The barbarism of communism at the Madiun affair in 1948 and the G.30.S/PKI affair in 1965 have resulted in many victims and great disasters for our beloved state and people of Indonesia." The reality was different. After the bloody suppression of the communist party in 1965 and 1966 - which is estimated to have taken the lives of a half to one million people and destroyed the lives of many more who were imprisoned, sacked and ostracised - some of these hunted people had succeeded in hiding in the limestone hills south of Blitar. At the time the region was still sparsely populated and relatively inaccessable. Moreover Blitar regency had been a power base of the PKI, the party had an absolute majority in the regional parliament up to the time it was made illegal by Suharto. So the army was determined to hunt these people down, at the same time intimidating the local population who sympathized with them into betraying them. The operation was called Trisula to stress that it was three-pronged: the people and the civil government 'cooperated' with the army. From the testimony of one of the survivors, mrs Put Mu'inah (reference: http://dev.progind.net/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=241): "On December 22, 1967, the army executed an operation in Krisik village(...). Then I together with local people hid in the forest, because at the time if they found a man considered a PKI sympathiser, he surely would be shot. (...) In the forest I hid in caves and moved at night. Our food consisted of leaf buds, and bananas if there were (...). On August 1968 I was caught in a cave by the 511 batallion; my thumbs were bound together behind my back. In the beginning in the forest there were many fugitives with me, but gradually they disappeared, they were caught or they were killed. Also before I was caught I often hid in Bultuk cave (...). Bultuk Cave is historic, people used it to hide their food reserves, because during Operation Trisula in south Blitar many army individuals used to rob them. Even when they saw pretty girls or widows they were not above raping them. For example what happened in Ngleduk village, Surowadang district, where several army individuals brutally raped some girls and widows, then killed them at Kemiri hill. (...) Also it once happened that the whole population of five villages were rounded up, including women and children, and herded together on an open field in sun and rain without giving them food." After Suharto's demise this shameful monument had deteriorated, but recently it has been restored including the wood-and-bamboo pesanggrahan (district guest house). Indonesia has yet to face the darker pages in its history.

Directions: At the centre of Bakung village, a district capital, 20 km south-west of Blitar. Follow directions to Tambakrejo beach, but at Suruhwadang turn west to Bakung. Or, if you have visited Embultuk cave, follow the signs from there.