Rewriting history<\/p>\n
The Soeharto government was inclined to deny the notion that
\nhistory is God's own footpaths, as historian Arnold Toynbee once
\nput it. The regime, like other despotic powers, was also a pesky
\nrevisionist.<\/p>\n
Biased history textbooks became commonplace from the beginning
\nof Soeharto's rule, as did the abuse of many other important
\nmedia through which the identity of the nation is moulded such as
\nfilms, the award of medals and the recognition of heroes. Many
\npeople, inclusive academics, have called for an end to this
\nrevisionist trend.<\/p>\n
One revisionist atrocity, a regular on September's agenda, is
\na film on the aborted communist coup of 1965. Since 1984 it has
\nbeen compulsory for all television stations to screen the film at
\nthe end of every September to mark the suppression of the coup.
\nThe film's critics, of which there are many, have said it is an
\nout of date public relations gimmick.<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Legal Aid Institute appealed to the authorities to
\nstop screening the film in a call than won support from the
\npublic and the film industry alike. They believe the film was
\nblatantly engineered to portray the Soeharto regime in a
\nfavorable light. Many have also said the film's dominant theme of
\nrevenge is counter-productive to efforts to forge a national
\nreconciliation.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday, the Minister of Information responded to this
\nappeal by announcing that the film would no longer be compulsory
\nscreening. The move is a welcome one, even though our plaudits
\nmust be tempered by another demonstration of the government's
\nreluctance to let go of the communist bugbear once and for all.
\nAlthough the film will no longer have to be screened it will be
\nreplaced by another film, of the government's own choosing, with
\na \"similar nuance.\"<\/p>\n
The positive side to commemoration of the attempted coup this
\nyear -- the first in the new open atmosphere -- is that it has
\nencouraged people to call for that chapter of the nation's
\nhistory to be rewritten, not only because it has been manipulated
\nto serve the interests of Soeharto's regime, but because of a
\nlack of veracity in existing material dealing with the subject.<\/p>\n
The lack of objectivity in writings on this episode of the
\nnation's history has long been criticized by many historians, but
\nthe scribes who wrote history for the government turned a deaf
\near to their protests, as indeed they did during Sukarno's time
\nas president.<\/p>\n
Laying down the facts of this episode in our history is
\nbecoming ever more relevant as those involved in the events march
\ninto the winters of their lives. So many questions remain
\nunanswered about the attempted communist coup, an unprecedented
\ncoup which claimed the lives of six senior Army generals and one
\nlieutenant.<\/p>\n
Unanswered questions include who was really behind the bloody
\nabortive coup, who its main players were, and what actually
\nhappened when the generals were taken forcibly from their
\nresidences to the Halim air base and thereafter. No one knows if
\nor how deeply former president Sukarno was involved in the
\nattempt, or if it is true that a certain Gen. Soeharto was
\ninformed in advance of the impending tragedy, as a leftist
\nofficer has claimed.<\/p>\n
Objectivity is important not only to reconstruct the events of
\nthat time but also so that our younger generation fully
\nunderstand, and learn the lessons, of that national tragedy.<\/p>\n
If hearing is believing, many members of our younger
\ngenerations are in the dark regarding this murky episode of
\nnational history. Many do not even have a clear idea of who
\nSukarno or Mohammad Hatta, the nation's founding fathers, really
\nwere.<\/p>\n
Correcting this aspect of history can serve as a preliminary
\nstep to a total review of our national heroes, as one scholar
\nurged about a decade ago. His proposal is entirely logical
\nbecause many of our heroes were selected on the basis of Dutch
\ncolonial ideals.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/rewriting-history-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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