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Because they felt their stories had to be told properly, 11 women who have lived through some of the worst periods in the nation’s history labored to write and publish their experiences in a book.

“Payung Hitam Keadilan” (“The Dark Umbrella of Justice”), published and launched on Friday with the support of the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) and PeaceWomen Across the Globe, tells the story of these women in their own words.

“I don’t know how to write a story, I am a villager and did not have a good education,” said 41-year-old Neneng, a vocal housewife from Rumpin, Bogor. Since 2007, she has been fighting the Air Force in a land dispute that could lead to the eviction of 13,000 residents.

“But I kept on trying so that people will read of our struggle and stories. That we fight for justice,” she said.

Other stories are from Siti Salmah, whose son, Muhammad Saparudin, went missing in May 1998, during the violence in Jakarta around the end of President Suharto’s rule, and Maria Katarina Sumarsih, who son died in November 1998 when troops opened fire on demonstrators at Atma Jaya University.

Also in the book is Wanmayetti, whose father was kidnapped during the Tanjung Priok riots in 1984, and Lestari, a victim of the 1965 Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) purge; and Zakiyatun, who lived through the military operations in Aceh.

Most of them have little money and have spent years fighting for justice together, including in Kamisan, a forum where people like them have stood in silence in front of the State Palace every Thursday since Jan. 18, 2007.

They have also sent a total of 206 letters to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, demanding justice for the victims of May 1998, the Atma Jaya shootings, Tanjung Priok and other cases.

They fight in the hope that the guilty will some day be brought before a judge and punished.

Luviana, from the Alliance of Independent Journalists (AJI), who worked with the women, said there were some initial doubts about doing the book.

Sumarsih, for example, questioned whether it would help her find answers about her son, Bernardinus Realino Norma Irmawan, known as Wawan, who died in November 1998.

“We talked and Bu Sumarsih came to understand the huge power of a book,” Luviana said. “That it is going to be part of history, written by a mother who is fighting for her son.”

In each of the stories, the motives for the kidnappings and killings are questioned.

“He [my son] was our backbone, and he was taken just like that. We are very sad, it’s an injustice,” Siti writes about her son, Saparudin. “My heart hurts. You should not cry over someone who has gone, but still, when I remember, this heart hurts so much.”

But through all the sadness and anger, there are occasional flashes of optimism.

Like Ruyati Darwin, the mother of Eten Karyana, another victim of the May 1998 unrest. Despite her loss, Ruyati continues to hold out hope for a better future and justice.

“I hope my struggle for justice and truth won’t be for nothing. And that this kind of tragedy is never repeated in this country.”