Historian calls for study on communist coup
JAKARTA (JP): Noted historian Taufik Abdullah yesterday called for a thorough study of the events surrounding the abortive communist coup attempt on Sept. 30, 1965, in order to give people a better understanding of the "national tragedy".
"There are still holes surrounding the G30S/PKI because many events were not recorded, while the number of people who can provide the information is declining,' Taufik told Antara.
G30S/PKI is the shorthand for Gerakan 30 September/Partai Komunis Indonesia (September 30 Movement/the Indonesian Communist Party). The putsch, widely considered a dark page in Indonesia's national history, began with the abduction and killing of six generals and a junior officer and later triggered massive killings between people of opposing political convictions.
Taufik, a historian at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, said the nation's history is still largely written on a piecemeal basis.
Recent accounts of the G30S/PKI events highlight the murder of the generals and overshadow the events preceding that event, he said.
"For example, the intellectual terrorism that was launched by a group of artists and writers and those published by Bintang Timur," he said referring to the PKI newspaper.
And then there were also the killings that occurred in villages. "There has never been a tragedy on that scale in Indonesia...people were killing their own relatives, neighbors slaying one another," he said.
Although almost 30 years have passed since the violent tragedy, many of the survivors are still affected, complicating the work of historians trying to unearth the facts, Taufik said.
Another obstacle is the fear of social conflict that could erupt if the facts are established, he said.
"National unity and cohesion are crucial. Maybe they are tiresome, but they remain important. Therefore, for the sake of unity and cohesion, maybe some things are best forgotten and only those that are important are remembered."
Oct. 1, when the putsch was put down, has since been remembered as Pancasila Sanctity Day, a symbol that the state ideology can withstand any attempt to replace it.
Like in previous years, Pancasila Sanctity Day will be commemorated this Sunday with a pilgrimage to the Lubang Buaya (Crocodile Hole) area, in East Jakarta, where the bodies of the abducted generals were ditched.
The site has now been converted into a museum.
President Soeharto is scheduled to officiate the ceremony.
The government this week banned the autobiography of Oei Tjoe Tat, a member of President Sukarno's cabinet, in part because of some of his allegations about events surrounding the G30S/PKI incident.
The Attorney General's Office, which issued the ban, said that the content of the book could mislead the young generation. (emb)