Leaving the big question hanging

Emmy Fitri, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

-------------------------------------- Apakah Soekarno Terlibat Peristiwa G30S? (Was Soekarno involved in G30S?) Kerstin Beise Ombak, Yogyakarta September 2004 494 pp -------------------------------------------

Is it really relevant to know if the country's founding president, Sukarno, was connected to the abortive coup of September 1965?

Or, to put it more finely, is it useful to unearth the facts today about what has been carefully buried for almost 40 years?

Is it worthwhile to do so for a nation whose people have shown a pronounced disinclination to look back on the past, especially if they have cushy lives today?

The problem is that if we continue to swallow the half-truths, our own concept of self and national identity will eventually become as confused and flawed as our dubious history.

The truth will set us free, yes. At the very least, we should learn not to repeat past wrongdoings, although there is no guarantee that would happen.

The regime of Sukarno's successor, Soeharto, made sure that all references to the coup laid the blame squarely with the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).

The official line has always been that the killing of six army generals and one officer was part of PKI's plot to overthrow Sukarno's fragile administration.

All the official textbooks painted Soeharto (then an army lieutenant colonel) as a hero in taking control amid the turmoil, "doing the right thing" in snuffing out the communist "threat".

Even though dissenting opinions about the nature of the coup could be heard abroad shortly after it happened, few here dared question the official version during Soeharto's 32-year rule.

That opportunity only came after May 1998, when Soeharto stepped down from power, even though succeeding governments, wary of this deeply divisive and inflammatory issue, have chosen to steer clear of rewriting the official version.

Beise is another to step into the fray today, trying to ascertain if Sukarno (she uses the old spelling of his name) masterminded a sham coup in a desperate attempt to hold onto power, only to see his plan spiral out of control.

The German, a visiting student at state-run Hasanuddin University in Makassar, compares the works of different authors on Sukarno.

It's a who's who of Indonesianists past and present: Roeslan Abdulgani, Benedict Anderson, Arswendo Atmowiloto, Ladislav Bittman, Arnold Brackman, H.W. Brackman, Frederick Bunnel, Central Intelligence Agency, Robert Cribb, Harold Crouch, B. Dahm, Anthony Dake, Herbert Feith, Basuki Gunawan, Hardi, Helen Louise Hunter, Donald Hindley, Sulastomo, Widjanarko and Sophiaan.

This is a meticulously researched study in compiling the different views, but she does not offer any shocking findings.

She acknowledges this herself in the introduction to the work.

"This book is meant to offer a study and an approach to the varied sources writing about the G30S, and does not ambitiously want to reenact the incidents into a clear one."

Despite its scholarly merits (she wrote it, in flawlessly correct Indonesian, as part of her history thesis, a feat in itself), it's not meant for bedtime reading.

Commendably, she does offer an opinion on the leadership qualities of Sukarno, whose fall from grace (sad and ailing, he ended up living under house arrest in Bogor until his death in 1970) made him a figure of sympathy to many Indonesians.

"Soekarno's behavior after the coup did not prove that he was involved or not, but it showed how irresponsible he was as a leader," Beise writes.

"Soekarno did not clearly make decisions to put an end to the bloodbath after the coup and although not overtly, Soekarno was seen like an opportunist."

Sukarno is long gone, leaving those positive and negative legacies from his life and leadership. But the dead are usually forgiven for their past indiscretions.

The few living players and witnesses know what really happened on that fateful night in September, with the most prominent example, Soeharto, enjoying a quiet retirement here in the capital. And he is not telling.