Indonesian government plans to broadcast new history books have caused fears that the mention of mortal disturbances in 1998 mainly addressed to ethnic Chinese in the country will be eliminated from the text.
The 10 volume account was ordered by the administration of President Pabowo Subánto, a former general accused of kidnapping activists in the riots that preceded the fall of the Suharto dictator, says he denies.
Academics fear that their government can use exercise to rewrite history and cover past abuses.
Draft volume summaries and a chapter scheme seen by AFP Do not include any specific section on the violence of 1998.
A summary of the Suharto rule in the volume dedicated to him only mentions how “the manifestations of the students … became a factor” in their resignation.
“The writing was defective from the beginning,” said Andi Achdian, historian of the National University of Yakarta, who has seen the scheme. “It has a very strong trend to bleach history.”
Suharto ruled Indonesia with an iron fist for more than three decades after grabbing power following a 1965-66 massacre.
The Minister of Culture that supervises the Government History project, Fadli Zon, told the legislators last week that the account “does not discuss May ’98 … because it is small.” Nor does it promise to include most of the “gross human rights violations” recognized by former President Joko Widodo in 2023.
Jajat Burhanudin, editor of a project, contradicted Fadli and dismissed the concerns, saying AFP The new volumes would include events of 1998, with the draft of the scheme only a “trigger for discussion.”
The authorities say that the new historical account is necessary to strengthen Indonesian identity, but warned that any omission about its darker past will raise your eyebrows about objectivity.
“What is feared is that … the cases that have been accepted by the previous government to resolve will be ignored,” said Marzuki Darusman, former attorney general and head of a coalition of civil society opposed to volumes.
History ‘Updated’
While it is not clear how the government plans to use books, Jajat said volumes could be used as “one of the main sources” for history books taught in schools.
Neither the historian Susanto Zuhdi, who is directing the project, nor the presidential palace responded to the requests for comments.
The revisionist history obtained renewed scrutiny after the Minister of Culture questioned whether the mass violation had occurred at the end of the Suharto government.
The Ethnic Chinese Indonesians brought the worst part of the bloodshed during the riots, when the rape squads, supposedly led by the thugs of the army, wandered through the streets of Yakarta.
“Was there really mass rape? There was never any proof,” Fadli told local media in an interview last month. “If there is, show it.”
An investigation report of Acts in 1998, in charge of the first president of Indonesia after Suharto, found at least 52 reported cases of rape in the disturbances.
“This project runs the risk of eraseing uncomfortable truths,” said Usman Hamid, Executive Director of Amnesty International Indonesia.
Fadli said AFP The nation’s construction project would continue despite criticism. “The consensus (s) we continue,” he said. “This is an updated version of our history,” he added, saying that there would be a public debate “this month”, without elaborating.
‘Historical propaganda’
The project involves 113 academics, including historians, but at least one of them has resigned.
Said archaeologist Harry Truman Simanjuntak AFP He resigned in a dispute over language: the term “early history” was used instead of “prehistory” for the ancient civilization of Indonesia.
Fadli told legislators that the phrase was avoided because it was created by the former Dutch rulers of Indonesia.
But Harry said he showed the political influence on the text.
“It was very obvious that the authority of the editors did not exist. They were under government control,” he said.
The fury around the project has caused some legislators and opposition critics to request their suspension or cancellation.
Activist Maria Catarina Sumarsih, whose son was killed in a military repression after the fall of Suharto, accused writers of deforming the past.
“The government is cheating the public … especially young people,” he said. Others said that documenting Indonesia’s past was better to stay to academics.
“If the government feels that this nation needs a history that makes us proud … it cannot be through the government’s version of historical propaganda,” Marzuki said. “It should be the result of historians’ work.”
