Japanese movie on RI freedom sparks protests

Japanese movie on RI freedom sparks protests

TOKYO (Reuters): A new Japanese movie set in Indonesia during
World War II ran into trouble even before it opened when
Indonesia demanded cuts for distorting history, diplomats said on
Wednesday.

The movie could also spark protests from other nations for
portraying Japan's World War II invasion of Asia as a war of
liberation from Western colonialism.

Merdeka, which means freedom and independence in Indonesian,
tells the story of soldiers who take part in the Imperial
Japanese Army's invasion of Indonesia in 1942 and remain to fight
for the country's freedom.

Indonesia, colonized by the Dutch for around 350 years,
declared independence on Aug. 17, 1945. Fighting continued until
1950, however, as the Dutch mounted an abortive effort to retake
the sprawling archipelago.

"We called in the president of the company and demanded he
delete a scene," Sakidin, a counselor at the Indonesian Embassy
in Tokyo, told Reuters. It was humiliating to Indonesia and
historically untrue, he said.

"After a long conversation yesterday and today, he agreed,"
Sakidin said.

Merdeka will be released by major movie firm Toei Co Ltd. and
open around Japan on May 12. Eventually, it will also likely be
released in Indonesia, said Katsuaki Asano, the president of
Tokyo Film Production, which produced the film.

"All of this is based on facts, and we want the people of both
countries to know of this history," Asano told Reuters. "What
opinion they have and what happens as a result, this is a
question for the people of each country."

The scene objected to was one in which an invading Japanese
soldier is met by an old woman who kisses his feet in gratitude
for being freed from the Dutch, calling him a savior.

"We told them not to use this because it would hurt people in
Indonesia, because it is not true," Sakidin said.

He said Asano's response was quite cooperative, but that the
movie was still unsatisfactory in a number of ways because it
exaggerates Japan's role in the fight for independence.

The story centers on a group of Japanese soldiers who take
part in the 1942 invasion of Java and then work to train young
Indonesians into an effective fighting force. They stay after
Japan's defeat to fight with their Indonesian comrades.

Eventually they die heroically, down to the last man.

Of these deaths, shown in vast detail, Sakidin said: "This is
self-indulgence. They are trying to create an image -- and it's
difficult not to get the impression that one nation is superior
and one is inferior."

Japan did train young Indonesians and formed a militia called
PETA.

"We did make use of their presence in Indonesia and their
training of youth," Sakidin said. "So the movie is a little bit
true. But that is only one part."

He also said the movie's claims that 2,000 Japanese fought to
free Indonesia, and half of them died, were exaggerated and that
the true number was likely to be no more than a handful.

Of the soldiers' frequent statements that Japan was fighting
World War II "to free Asia", Sakidin said: "Don't be naive.
Indonesia fought for independence long, long, long before that."

Asano said he merely wanted to show that there were Japanese
who gave their lives so Indonesia could be free -- and, by so
doing, give young Japanese a sense of pride in themselves.