Sukarno's students': reconfiguring notions of exile, community and remembering

Following the events of 1965-66, some of the Indonesian students who had been sent overseas to study remained in their countries of study while others moved across the Eastern bloc in search of a country in which to reside permanently. Some, who later on became known as political exiles, settled in the Netherlands, and many continued to participate in networks across the world. This paper focuses on the exiles' historical trajectories and their interactions with recent Balinese migrants in the Netherlands, including the establishment in the mid-1990s of a Balinese migrant society. The recent Balinese migrants often refer to the exiles as 'Sukarno's students'. The analyses of the migratory trajectories of the Balinese political exiles and their interaction with recent migrants, situated both in the present and in former socio-political contexts, point to the shifting meanings of exile, home, community and remembering. This paper argues that the exiles are relational subjects who were active agents in the creation of the Indonesian leftist diaspora. Finally, the paper explores processes integral to the participation of the leftist diaspora in the Indonesian national project.