RI needs to rewrite its history: Anthropologist

RI needs to rewrite its history: Anthropologist

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Dutch-born anthropologist Niels Mulder said
Indonesia needed to rewrite its history to reconstruct the trail
of events which had deliberately been geared to serve the
interests of the New Order regime.

Mulder particularly cited the widely lauded historical March
1, 1959, general attack, Serangan Umum, by the rag-tag Indonesian
forces which he claimed was orchestrated by Yogyakarta monarch
Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono IX.

The event was one of the historic turning points in the
defense of Indonesia's independence.

But in recent years, films and history books have accentuated
the role of former president Soeharto as the sole protagonist of
the daring raid.

Speaking after the launch of his book, entitled Indonesian
Images: The Culture of the Public World, Mulder said on Wednesday
that "it was very embarrassing to change the history of a nation
just to make someone's name famous."

"Don't be like the Soviet Union, where history is rewritten
every five years," he said.

Published by Kanisius, Mulder's newest book is a study of the
development of Indonesian society.

It portrays how Indonesians think and learn in facing growing
problems and phenomena, including politics, economy, media, law,
human rights, public opinion, democracy and social justice.

Mulder identified two authorized institutions in the public
sphere which had an important impact on these developments,
namely the state (politics) and the economy.

"A state is basically a feudalistic structure and does not
accept any command. In the past, we knew that the so-called
Kanjeng Gubermen (governor) could not accept order, just like the
feudalistic government of Soeharto," he said. (swa/edt)