The other side of RI's history

The other side of RI's history

The following is based on a presentation by historian Asvi
Warman Adam from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI). It
is based on a presentation for a symposium on East Timor and
Indonesia, held in Portugal last month.

LISBON: Indonesian historians have been faced with a dilemma.
Should they remain in their ivory towers or should they respond
to the wishes of the people? This dilemma is clearly reflected in
Indonesian historiography, which can be broken down into three
stages.

The historian Kuntowijoyo claims that the first stage was
marked by the decolonization of Indonesia's historical
perception. During the first seminar on national history in
Yogyakarta in 1957, the issue of the decolonization of history
dominated the talks, with the Euro-centric historians pitting
themselves against the Indonesia-centric movement.

The second stage was characterized by the dominant use of
social sciences in history, as was evident in the subsequent
seminar held in Yogyakarta in 1970.

One benefit of this social science approach is that it is
neutral in the face of authority. Yet it also marked the
alienation of history from the public.

The third stage was marked by a commitment to abandon the
ivory tower and face certain historical realities. This
development can also be called the history of the victims and
these victims, mostly those of politics and violence, have
started to make themselves heard.

After Soeharto resigned in May 1998, Indonesia's historical
course changed dramatically. While there was only one version of
the country's history in the past, today we have a wide array of
versions.

Among the people who spoke up were those grouped in the
Foundation for the Investigation into Victims of the 1965/1966
Mass Killings. This organization is led by Sulami, a former
secretary-general of the much stigmatized Indonesian Women's
Movement, or Gerwani.

The writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer and his colleagues are
compiling notes covering the period between 1945 to 1950. Two
installments, Kronik Revolusi Indonesia, Vol I which covers the
year of 1945, and Vol II which covers 1946, have already been
published.

The current trends have their weaknesses, however.

The official history of the New Order, especially the part
that deals with the 1965 coup attempt, is dominated by sources
originating from the military trial hearings of 1966.

In varying degrees, and not only in Indonesia, examinations of
suspects may involve interrogation techniques which include
torture. The results which later become part of court proceedings
carry very minimal historical value.

On the other hand, the studies by the "leftists", including
those on the excavation of the mass graves in Java, tend to be
amateur. They may be serious, but knowledge of methodology is
lacking.

What would be a middle way?

During the New Order era, it was not possible to publish any
history books that did not conform to the wishes of the regime.

The time is now ripe for the publication of a number of
historical dissertations on the 1965-1966 period.

Among those already published, to mention a few, is a
publication by LIPI's researcher Hermawan Sulistyo originally
titled The forgotten years: Indonesia's missing history of mass
slaughters (Jombang-Kediri, 1965-1966), a dissertation he wrote
at the Arizona State University in 1997.

Another valuable work would be the one written by sociologist
Iwan Gardono Sudjatmiko of the University of Indonesia titled The
destruction of the Indonesian Communist Party: A comparative
analysis of East Java and Bali, written at Harvard University in
1992.

A dissertation on Gerwani, written in the Netherlands, has
also been published in Indonesian. The book by Saskia Wieringa,
titled The politicization of gender relations in Indonesia: The
Indonesian women's movement and Gerwani until the New Order
state, shocked many with the revelation that all the dioramas at
various historical monuments, such as at Lubang Buaya in East
Jakarta and the National Monument in Central Jakarta, are based
on fabricated facts.

Wieringa asserts it is not true that a sadistic torture
occurred at Lubang Buaya, let alone the mutilation of the
generals' genitals as has been described in history books
throughout the years.

The reports depicting such actions by the women's organization
Gerwani, which was associated with communism, soon led to mass
anger, which in turn drove Indonesians to commit the largest
slaughter in the country's history.

A thesis from the University of Indonesia's postgraduate
program in history, titled Accounts of political prisoners on
Buru island, completed in 1997, will soon be published by the
LP3ES research center.

The public can now learn more about the making of well-known
films believed to be based on history. New books on the subject
include those by Budi Irawanto who writes about the military's
"hegemony" in Indonesian cinema.

The publisher, Media Pressindo in Yogyakarta, has also issued
a study on a communist-related movement in Yogyakarta's Gunung
Kidul regency in 1959 to 1964, known as the Movement of the
Hungry (Gerayak). Originally a final thesis for the Gadjah Mada
University, it analyses "politics of peasant radicalization."

To a certain extent the publication of these books has managed
to fill the void in historical research. All the above books can
be said to have met the requirements in terms of data source and
methodology.

Indonesian history, as taught for 32 years under the New
Order, will be too difficult to replace within a short period of
time. Therefore, any effort to straighten history should be
carried out with all available means including the utilization of
strategies that have been employed in the past, such as films and
literature.

I was involved with the team assigned by then minister of
education Juwono Sudarsono in 1998 to write a guideline for those
teaching history. (This was shortly after Juwono said in October
1998 that teachers and school principals had agreed to give
additional "proportional information" on national history - Ed).

I was not involved in the writing, but I attended most of the
meetings. It was evident that writing a guidebook for history
teachers is far from easy. The main purpose of the book was to
clarify a few controversial events in Indonesia's history, such
as the attempted coup, the 11th March 1966 document (justifying
former president Soeharto's rise to power), the birth of
Pancasila and the integration of East Timor.

The choice of the chapter's title, Integration of East Timor,
clearly indicated that the events of 1975-1976 were not regarded
as an invasion.

The first paragraph read: "Integration of East Timor into the
state of the Republic of Indonesia officially took place on July
17, 1976, or two days after the plenary meeting of the House of
Representatives of the Republic unanimously passed Law No. 7 of
1976, which stated that East Timor became Indonesia's 27th
province."

It continued: "As far as the Indonesian government and the
prointegration groups such as the Apodetis were concerned, the
East Timor issue was over. However, anti-integration groups,
especially the Fretilins, were of the opinion that the East Timor
issue was not final. Differences in views and interests of the
parties have led to controversies on the integration process."

The Balibo Proclamation of East Timor's "integration" was
discussed in three pages, but the 1991 Santa Cruz slaying in Dili
was not touched at all.

The history of East Timor must be rewritten. Should we treat
the Indonesian soldiers who were killed in East Timor as heroes
and martyrs, or bandits? Such a question is based on historical
perception and interpretation.

One solution would be to limit the history taught in schools
to the past 30 years. Students could first be taught the
country's history from the pre-historical era up to 1970.
Books could then be updated every five years, to prevent
revisions every year. General knowledge, on the other hand, would
still encourage students to remain updated on contemporary
developments which constantly change and are therefore not
suitable material for history teaching.

Difficulty in providing comprehensive, revised material is
reflected by the fact that until today the attachments for
history teachers regarding various rewritten historical events is
yet to be completed.

Given such difficulties, the subject of East Timor, for
instance, would be more feasible to teach in 2005, after more
reflection on the events in a much less heated atmosphere.