Ex-political prisoners demand review of RI official history
Ex-political prisoners demand review of RI official history
Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Nearly 400 former political prisoners demanded on Saturday
that the government review the official version of the nation's
history, which they claim was manipulated by former president
Soeharto's New Order regime.
Most of them want a review, in particular, on the events
surrounding the transfer of power from founding president Sukarno
to Soeharto in 1965, which was overshadowed by the alleged
abortive coup attempt by the now defunct Indonesian Communist
Party (PKI).
The demand for the review was made at an open hearing,
presided by Soeharto's noted critic, Wimanjaya K. Liotohe. The
hearing was part of the first national gathering ever conducted
by former political prisoners after then president B.J. Habibie
granted amnesty to them in 1999.
The gathering was opened by Taufik Kiemas, the husband of
President Megawati Soekarnoputri, on Friday. Taufik was once sent
to jail during the Soeharto era for several months for supporting
the old regime under Sukarno.
Arguing that a review of historical events was badly needed to
help create a reliable and accurate account of national history,
participants urged the committee of the meeting to set up a
working team in charge of conducting the review.
According to them, the transfer of power, which has never been
officially clarified, had been manipulated by Soeharto's
authoritarian regime.
The regime indiscriminately sent most of its critics, many of
them without trial, to prison, they said.
Participants at Saturday's forum, including historian Asvi
Warman Adam of the Indonesian Institute of Science (LIPI), shared
their experiences of living under oppression.
Asvi said he fully backed the demand for a revision to
official history books.
"The current account of history is seen from the perspective
of the elite. It's time to show history as it was experienced by
the people," Asvi said.
Atik Kalalo, a participant from North Sulawesi, urged
colleagues to join the movement to call for the dismantling of
"Lubang Buaya" memorial park, a symbol of the New Order regime.
The New-Order-led anti-Communist purge had been used to
justify the mass-slaughter of thousands of people suspected of
involvement in the movement.
Others sympathizing with the movement were jailed for years
without trial.
"We also want to restore the civilian and political rights of
former political prisoners," Chris Siner Key Timu, deputy
chairman of Justice Fellowship Indonesia (JFI), told The Jakarta
Post.
JFI, which has been monitoring and giving advocacy to
political prisoners since 1988, was the main organizer of the
national gathering.
Chris, a member of the Petition 50 group for critics against
Soeharto, said that if they could restore the rights of former
political prisoners, their next target would be reconciliation
with their former opponents.