Leaving the big question hanging
Leaving the big question hanging
Emmy Fitri, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta
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Apakah Soekarno Terlibat Peristiwa G30S?
(Was Soekarno involved in G30S?)
Kerstin Beise
Ombak, Yogyakarta
September 2004
494 pp
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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.