The blurring of myths and history<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The new atmosphere of openness has encouraged
\nhistorians and many others to call for the rewriting of the
\ncountry's history, especially the history of the New Order.
\nFormer president Soeharto and his government are now being
\naccused of twisting history to stay in power unchallenged.<\/p>\n
\"We have to get free from the historical myths created by the
\nNew Order regime which wrote its own version of history to serve
\nits own interests,\" says intellectual Mudji Sutrisno.<\/p>\n
\"The border between myth and history is an illusion,\" says
\ninternational award-winning novelist Pramoedya Ananta Toer,
\nwriter of Arus Balik, a 1995 novel on the 16th century.<\/p>\n
Myth can be turned into history, says noted historian Taufik
\nAbdullah, by repeating romanticized versions of films or stories,
\nwhich in themselves are valid as entertainment.<\/p>\n
The Sept. 30, 1965, aborted coup attempt against the country's
\nfirst president Sukarno that killed six senior and one junior
\nArmy officer and was allegedly perpetrated by the Indonesian
\nCommunist Party (PKI), is now under the spotlight as one of the
\nmost disturbing chapters where many questions remain unanswered.<\/p>\n
Unanswered questions include who the mastermind of the bloody
\nattempted coup was, who its main players were, and whether it was
\ntrue that Soeharto, who was then commander-in-chief of the Army
\nStrategic Reserves (Pangkostrad), was informed in advance of the
\nimpending tragedy, as a living officer in jail has claimed.<\/p>\n
Confirming an earlier part of the hush-hush version, a former
\nforensic expert was quoted by the DR magazine recently as saying
\nthat the victims were tortured (\"the bodies had been shot several
\ntimes\") but not in the manner that Indonesians have been brought
\nup to believe.<\/p>\n
For instance, the penises were not cut off, the doctor, Arif
\nBudianto, said.<\/p>\n
Then there is the issue of the number of victims in the
\nbloodbath that ensued, how they died and the fate of their
\ndescendants -- a subject never raised in public despite people
\nremembering the many corpses lying in rivers when they were
\nyoung, given the official version that they were PKI members.<\/p>\n
Beyond the political intrigue of the elite, the killing of
\ncivilians by civilians, mainly in Java and Bali, has yet to
\nbecome part of the nation's painful soul searching. At least one
\nstudy, The Forgotten Years by researcher Hermawan Sulistyo of the
\nNational Institute of Sciences (LIPI), published in 1997 raised
\nthe figure of 400,000 victims.<\/p>\n
Allegations by the 73-year-old officer in Cipinang jail, Col.
\nA. Latief, that Soeharto knew of the coup plans were recently
\nechoed by Sukarno's widow, Ratna Sari Dewi.<\/p>\n
Film<\/p>\n
Latief claims he twice informed Soeharto of the coup plans. On
\nSept. 1 he said that seven high ranking officers, six of whom
\nbecame victims, would be summoned by Sukarno \"in relation to
\nrumors of a Council of Generals\" plotting against him.<\/p>\n
With such information at least a month ahead of the tragedy,
\nboth Latief and Dewi question why Soeharto did not do anything.<\/p>\n
The film on the September coup attempt, is one example of
\nromanticizing history. Director Arifin C. Noer's intriguing
\ncombination of film and documentary, and the convincing portrayal
\nof characters is the film's strength.<\/p>\n
But the fact that ever since 1984 the authorities insisted
\nthat it had to be broadcast every year on all television
\nstations, is what historian Taufik sees as the possible gradual
\nphasing from romanticization to myth. When it has become a myth,
\nhe said, the next phase is that it could be considered a
\nhistorical source.<\/p>\n
This year, the film's showing was no longer compulsory. But a
\ndifferent film \"of similar nuance\" will be played each year, also
\non all channels.<\/p>\n
Pramoedya said, \"I happen to have several documents
\n(indicating a version of the September tragedy different to that
\nof the government). And maybe others also have (sources). The
\nkidnapping and killing of the six Army generals was masterminded
\nby the Army itself.\"<\/p>\n
Cornell University historians Ben Anderson and Ruth McVey
\nwrote the renown Cornell Paper, in which they pointed out that
\nthe Sept. 30 tragedy was an internal conflict within the Army,
\nwith the result of sparking the demise of the PKI.<\/p>\n
Pramoedya, a leader of the former Lekra literary organization
\nassociated with PKI, asserts the tragedy was \"part of the global
\nstrategy of capitalist countries led by the United States and
\nBritain to eradicate communism.\"<\/p>\n
Similar to what is mentioned in unofficial versions, he
\npointed out that a document written by Sir Andrew Gilchrist,
\nBritain's envoy to Indonesia in 1965, mentioned a plot to
\nforcibly topple Sukarno, who was perceived by some to be close to
\nthe PKI.<\/p>\n
The document said the enterprise would be done by \"our local
\narmy friends\".<\/p>\n
\"It so happens that in the country's political arena, the PKI
\ndefeated the Army, and since Indonesia has never experienced any
\nreal democracy, some in the Army wouldn't accept the defeat and
\narranged a killing,\" Pramoedya added.<\/p>\n
Dewi has also charged that the actual coup was not the aborted
\none of Sept. 30 -- but March 11, 1966, when Sukarno gave written
\nauthority to Soeharto to restore peace and order following the
\nchaos after Sept. 30.<\/p>\n
A former Sukarno guard claims the founding father was
\nintimidated into signing it by the three high-ranking officers
\nwho went to the palace with the document -- a charge already
\ndenied by the only general among the three still alive, Gen.
\n(ret).M. Yusuf.<\/p>\n
The whereabouts of the original document known as Supersemar
\nis unknown, adding to the mystery of the affair.<\/p>\n
Pramoedya also questions the government version of the March
\n1, 1949, clash with the Dutch in Yogyakarta. The official line is
\nthat Soeharto, then a brigade commander, initiated the attack, an
\nepisode made into a few films, one being Enam Jam Di Jogja (Six
\nHours In Yogyakarta).<\/p>\n
Other versions have it that it was the late Sultan
\nHamengkubuwono IX who masterminded the attack, and it was
\nSoeharto who implemented it, but the Sultan never claimed credit
\nto the official version.<\/p>\n
Yogyakarta historian Soegijanto Padmo once said that the
\nsultan \"very wisely\" said, \"I will never say who the initiator of
\nthe March 1 attack was.\"<\/p>\n
In the banned memoirs of a late former cabinet minister under
\nSukarno, Oei Tjoe Tat, the Sultan is quoted as nonchalantly
\nsaying \"Let it be ...\" (rei\/bnt\/aan)<\/p>",
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