Slobodan Lekic, Jakarta – Leaning forward in his armchair, Indonesia's founding father, President Sukarno, hands a sheaf of papers to a general seated on his right. Other generals, presidential aides and the first lady watch impassively.
The life-size diorama in Jakarta's military museum depicts the moment on March 11, 1966, when – according to the official, army-inspired version of history – Sukarno transferred power to Gen. Suharto, ushering in 32 years of brutal dictatorship.
But two years after Suharto's ouster, serious doubts have emerged about the handover. Sukarno's aides claim the document was in fact simply an order to the army to improve security following an abortive coup in 1965. It's difficult to determine the truth – the original document apparently vanished 34 years ago.
At stake is more than just a footnote to history: if Suharto illegally seized power by a thinly disguised coup, he and his cronies could face prosecution on charges punishable by death.
Suharto was driven from office in 1998 and lives quietly in the capital. He suffered two strokes last year, and his lawyers have so far stymied a government corruption probe by claiming he is too frail to be questioned.
"The official line is that nobody has the paper," said Dede Oetomo, a political analyst at Airlangga University. "But in reality, the military probably destroyed it because it didn't support their claims about a legal transfer of power."
According to the army, the "Letter of Orders of March 11" granted Suharto the authority "to take all steps considered necessary" to protect Indonesia's integrity and ensure the government's continuity. The military interpreted this to mean Suharto had been installed as acting president.
As many as 500,000 leftists were slaughtered in 1966 in an army- sponsored massacre the CIA characterized as "one of the worst mass murders of the 20th century." An estimated 600,000 were imprisoned without trial.
The killings followed the mutiny by a group of middle-ranking officers on September 30, 1965. Six generals were slain before Suharto – whom the plotters had inexplicably left off their hit list – ordered his troops to restore order.
According to the army's version of events, the coup attempt had been instigated by the Indonesian Communist Party, then the world's third-largest. Although no direct link between the coup leaders and the Communists was ever established, the party was decimated in the ensuing purge and its top officials executed along with the mutineers.
Earlier this month, reformist President Abdurrahman Wahid said he would support an unprecedented judicial probe into the massacres. "The government's task is to follow up the findings of the investigations, to punish those ... who are found guilty," he said. This week, Wahid said he also wanted to ease a ban on the Communist Party.
Hario Kecik, a former general, said the massacre was the work of a clique of officers who served during World War II in the Japanese army, where they were imbued with a disdain for civilian rule and a penchant for extreme brutality. "Every family has at least one victim of Suharto's regime," said Kecik, who himself spent four years in jail and another 11 in exile.
Within days of receiving the March 11 order, Suharto arrested several of Sukarno's ministers, including those depicted in the museum diorama. Sukarno himself was forced out of office; shattered by events, he died soon afterward.
"The nebulous March 11 order has ... become a political hot potato," said a recent editorial in the Indonesian Observer. "It is time to study the actual content ... and to punish those who have ignored or abused its message." Most of the people depicted in the diorama are long dead and others refuse to talk.
Media reports have claimed Gen. Muhammad Jusuf, one of the surviving officers, was in possession of the document and would give it to parliament. This was quickly denied, but the speaker of the assembly appealed to anyone with knowledge of its whereabouts to come forward. Researchers need not bother looking for answers at the military museum. The file in Sukarno's hand contains an old newspaper.