In a land where memory is a battleground and truth is a forbidden language, Don’t Tell Me to Forgive gives voice to the children of Aceh who never had the chance to speak. This powerful and unflinching first volume in The Little Martyrs of Aceh memoir series brings to light the hidden horrors of Rumoh Geudong—a military detention camp turned graveyard, where 87 children were tortured, raped, and killed by Indonesian forces between 1952 and 2005.
Each chapter is an act of remembrance and resistance. Told through detailed investigative storytelling and survivor-sourced evidence, the book presents a chapter-by-chapter record of each child’s life, disappearance, and death. Their names are not lost. Their stories are not fiction. Their pain is recorded with legal precision and emotional clarity, making this not just a memorial, but a legal document suitable for international courts, tribunals, and truth commissions.
Drawing on primary source material from 30 years of author notes, Human Rights Watch, Komnas HAM, AJAR, Amnesty International, and survivor testimony, Don’t Tell Me to Forgive establishes the framework for legal redress and historical truth. It exposes a system of state terror and impunity—naming perpetrators, documenting crimes, and contextualizing how the Acehnese people, especially mothers and children, endured the unthinkable.
Written by Sultan Fariz Syah, a direct descendant of Sultan Iskandar Muda and guardian of Aceh’s royal legacy, this book is not simply a work of history—it is a refusal to let silence win.
For the children who never returned, for the mothers who still wait, and for the nation whose memory has been threatened by erasure, Don’t Tell Me to Forgive stands as testimony, indictment, and living archive.
Their names are written. Their stories will not be buried. Justice begins here
