U.S. action on book has little effect on Indonesia
U.S. action on book has little effect on Indonesia
JAKARTA (JP): Historians here noted on Sunday that the U.S.
government's move to recall books detailing its role in
Indonesia's violent anticommunist campaign in the mid-1960s, has
little implication on Indonesia.
The United States government scrambled on Friday to withdraw
the recently released history of American officials' secret
support of the communist purge in Indonesia, which led to the
ouster of the country's founding president Sukarno.
Anhar Gonggong of the University of Indonesia said that the
publication of such documents did not reveal new information,
except the correction of some misperceptions, perhaps, among
researchers.
"Because the role of the U.S. intelligence in the
anticommunist movement was widely known, although it still had
yet to be proven," he told Antara.
Hundreds of thousands of people are believed to have been
killed in the anticommunist purge.
Sharing a similar view to Anhar, the head of the National
Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Taufik Abdullah, also said that
there was nothing that the Indonesian government or people could
do about the revelation of the U.S. role in the anticommunist
movement in the country.
"The New Order has officially passed, what else can we do? The
recalling of the books does not have any impact on us," Taufik,
also a historian, told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
Taufik suggested that the government take a more cautious
attitude toward the U.S. government.
Both Anhar and Taufik assumed that the withdrawal of the
documents was a face-saving measure for the U.S. government.
Taufik said that from an academic point of view, the books
should not be removed.
"But I guess it's a very embarrassing moment for them. They
were caught interfering in other country's internal affairs,"
Taufik asserted.
"Another reason, I guess, is it's not the right moment when
president George W. Bush is launching his new Asia policy and
wants to improve the country's image," he added.
Meanwhile, Anhar said, the recalling of the books is against
the country's basic principle that people have a right to access
to information.
"Let people have a more mature understanding on the U.S.
government following the disclosure of that information," he
said.
As far as he remembered, Anhar said, the U.S. government had
never recalled such a book.
But the removal, he said, was unlikely due to factual errors,
or related to the recent appointment of Megawati Soekarnoputri,
daughter of Sukarno, as the country's president.
Anhar feared a repeat of this practice every time a document
is declassified and is available to the public.
"A classified document in the U.S. expires within 30 years.
Say, there is a document about U.S. intelligence' role in East
Timor integration period. When the document is made public, it's
possible that it will be recalled too," he said.
"Whoever want to cover such facts, it's pointless. Because
other countries have them too," he added.
Separately, Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Director General of
Political Affairs Hassan Wirayuda played down the U.S.
government's move, saying that the book does not have anything to
do with current political issues in this country.
"There are always many versions of history. It is the U.S.
government who considers the issue sensitive and not us," Hassan
told the Post.
He underlined that the book only concerns an event which
happened years ago and did not touch current political issues in
Indonesia, so Jakarta would not react to Washington's decision.
"This is a simple matter, this is about history and I am not
going to speculate about Washington's reasons for removing the
books from the shelves," Hassan remarked. (dja/hdn)