In the face of denial, this film uncovers the hidden scars of Indonesia’s 1998 riots
In 1998, Indonesia was deep in crisis. With the country reeling from soaring inflation, mass unemployment and mounting unrest, tensions erupted into protests and riots that brought an end to the three-decade rule of the dictator Suharto. Ethnic Chinese communities, long scapegoated as economic elites, were targeted in violent attacks, including looting, arson and killings. Sexual violence also occurred, mostly against women from these communities. However, despite an official independent report documenting at least 90 cases of sexual violence, members of the Indonesian government – many still connected to the Suharto era – continue to dismiss these cases as ‘rumours’.
In Hotline 1998, the Indonesian filmmaker Andrea Suwito revisits this painful chapter in her country’s history. The film centres on the memories of volunteers who staffed a hotline for survivors of sexual violence during the riots, alongside testimony from the humanitarian worker Sandyawan Sumardi, who helped document the violence. Sensitively told yet unflinchingly honest, Hotline 1998 is a powerful act of remembrance and a call to bear witness to a tragedy that’s long been ignored and denied.

videoHistory
The dry-stacked stones of Zimbabwe are a medieval engineering wonder
7 minutes

videoTechnology and the self
Inside a tattoo parlour where hateful images are covered for free
11 minutes

videoHistory
In Stalin’s home city in Georgia, generations clash over his legacy
20 minutes

videoArt
Defying classification, fantastical artworks reframe the racism of Carl Linnaeus
8 minutes

videoSocial psychology
What happened when a crypto scam swept over a sleepy town in the Caucasus
18 minutes

videoHistory
Hags, seductresses, feminist icons – how gender dynamics manifest in witches
13 minutes

videoFairness and equality
‘To my old master’ – a freed slave answers the request to return to his old plantation
7 minutes

videoInformation and communication
‘Astonished and somewhat terrified’ – Victorians’ reactions to the phonograph
36 minutes

videoVirtues and vices
Why Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Adam Smith were divided on the virtues of vanity
5 minutes