Speakers urge greater public access to nation's history

SERPONG, West Java (JP): Speakers at a seminar on the history of the 1965 turmoil have urged historians and the public to be given access to all related information.

R.Z. Leirizza who moderated the first session of the seminar told The Jakarta Post that failure to do so would "continuously foster mutual suspicion in society" concerning various events.

The seminar focused on events surrounding the communist coup attempt and the subsequent killing spree of alleged communists or supporters.

"We do not even know the number of people killed at that time... data from the local police precincts and military commands should be accessed," Leirizza of the University of Indonesia said. Speakers told of the screening by the Military restricting access to files such as those related to the 1965 events.

"History is about bringing solidarity by achieving understanding of each other's weaknesses and advantages ... this cannot happen if we're always suspicious of one another. How are we supposed to bring about a civil society?"

Learning history in schools so far only means teaching the version of the rulers, Leirizza added.

Barring even historians to archives "reflects a lack of understanding of social studies and historians," Leirizza, a historian of the 19th century, said.

"They think we're all aiming to bring down the government," he said.

"We've even become suspicious of the role of (former president) Soeharto in the 1948 uprising in Madiun," Leirizza said, referring to another communist-related event.

A speaker on the women's organization Gerwani, Stanley Adi Presetya said that based on available studies, there had been "more fiction than fact" surrounding the organization. Members have been charged for allegedly being involved in the torture and killing of generals abducted and murdered in September 1965.

Historian Ong Hok Ham said "more theories than new facts" have emerged in studies on the 1965 events.

The talks in Serpong are being held by the Indonesian History Society (MSI), and will continue till Friday. The society is contributing to rewriting history and revising text books.

While the Wednesday session focused largely on the 1965 events, on Friday the history of Aceh and East Timor will also be featured. Talks on history in a transition period will include the 1998 May riots and the student movement. (anr)