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.