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.