Deadspin: "Why Does A Leader Of The Indonesian Genocide Get To Play In So Many PGA Tour Pro-Ams?"

Looks like the vetting process needs to get a little tighter at PGA Tour Pro-Ams, as Deadspin reports Japto Soerjosoemarno—once leader of a far-right paramilitary group called Pancasila Youth and self-confessed murderer of mass numbers of Indonesians, is a huge fan of the pro-am. In particular, the Desert Classic.

The narrative thrust of The Act of Killing is that few of the hatchet men involved in the CIA-backed massacre of between 500,000 and 3,000,000 Indonesians ever faced consequences for the killings, and many of them don’t even harbor remorse. Their nonchalant openness about the murderers is what makes the documentary so chilling. Pancasila, which played a major role in the genocide 50 years ago, is still very much active and very much for hire for any, say, European conglomerate that wants to break up a nascent union by force. 

He played in last week’s event according to Deadspin, though his name is not listed now.

Most recently, Soerjosoemarno was one of the amateur partners for PGA Tour pros Jim Herman and Rod Pampling at this year’s Desert Classic (he shot a 201 over three rounds.) Soerjosoemarno is especially fond of playing in the Coachella Valley, where the PGA has held a January event for 60 years.

So far, no replies from the Tour…

Deadspin reached out yesterday to two Desert Classic representatives about Soerjosoemarno’s long-running involvement with the tournament, and whether or not they knew he admitted to participating in the 1965-66 genocide. They did not reply. Deadspin also asked three PGA Tour reps if they would allow Soerjosoemarno to participate in future events, and whether or not they condemned the Indonesian massacres of 1965-66. They did not respond either.