Pancasila's Sanctity Day no longer a big event

Pancasila's Sanctity Day no longer a big event

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja and Kurniawan Hari, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta

The government made another move to demystify the Sept. 30, 1965,
tragedy, with both President Megawati Soekarnoputri and Vice
President Hamzah Haz missing the solemn annual commemoration.

The action was another blow to former president Soeharto's
prestige as for the first time in the 36 years since the tragedy,
the serving president was absent from the ceremony that recalls
the tragedy, which culminated with Soeharto coming to power.

No official explanation was provided for the President's
absence, and the ceremony was officiated over by Coordinating
Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang
Yudhoyono.

Minister of National Education Abdul Malik Fadjar said during
a press conference after the ceremony that neither the President
nor the Vice President were obligated to preside over the
commemoration.

"In years to come, the commemoration may take place elsewhere,
instead of at the Lubang Buaya Monument," Malik said.

Hamzah said he was called by the President to inform him that
Susilo would lead the ceremony. "So, I don't have to attend the
ceremony," he told reporters at his office.

Unlike during the New Order era, a shadow has hung over
Pancasila Sanctity Day ever since the history of the Sept. 30,
1965, abortive coup, which was officially said to have been
launched by the former Indonesian Communist Party (PKI), began to
be questioned following former president Soeharto's resignation
in May, 1998.

During the 32-year-long New Order era, a documentary-style
propaganda film titled Pengkhianatan G-30S PKI (The betrayal of
the Indonesian Communist Party) was screened annually. The film
depicts how Soeharto and the Army, with the help of Muslim
groups, quelled the communist putsch.

Former president Abdurrahman Wahid in 2000 changed the name of
the day from Pancasila Sanctity Day to Pancasila Betrayal
Remembrance Day.

Megawati, however, made a more drastic change by simply
skipping the ceremony altogether and, instead, chairing the
Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle's weekly meeting.

Analysts said that there should be an investigation into what
really happened in 1965 as many sides, including many historians,
have cast doubt on the New Order version of events, saying this
was merely a Soeharto plot to topple founding president Sukarno.

On Monday, the children of the Army generals killed in the
tragedy demanded a fresh investigation so as to uncover the whole
truth behind the event.

Historian Hermawan Sulistyo, meanwhile, hailed Megawati's
decision to skip the commemoration of the Sept. 30, 1965,
incident, suggesting instead that the President should make a
conciliatory statement.

Such a statement from the President was needed, Hermawan said,
as the tragedy has brought an abundance of suffering on the heads
of the people, especially the 500,000 PKI supporters and their
descendants.

Hermawan suggested that the government revise the history
textbooks used in schools as those currently in use were
misleading.