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.