In communist and authoritarian countries it has been common for rulers to order historians to write official history textbooks is such a way as to dignify those in power and help ensure that they remain unchallenged. For such regimes there is zero tolerance for any efforts to question their version of history.
Indonesia is neither a communist nor an authoritarian regime, and even prides itself as the world's third largest democracy after India and the United States. However, the way it treats historians who are simply carrying out their professional duty to critically assess the country's history is no better than authoritarian states.
The Attorney General's Office recently questioned two officials from the Education Ministry for approving a history textbook that said the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) was only one of the perpetrators of the Sept.
30, 1965, coup attempt. This is the same office that has been widely criticized for seemingly dragging its feet in investigating major corruption cases, but it was certainly enthusiastic about investigating the history textbooks, which it said had the potential to cause public unrest.
During his 32-year rule former president Soeharto succeeded in brainwashing the nation into blindly believing his version of the coup attempt and the succeeding violence that reportedly claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. In his version, the PKI was entirely responsible for the coup attempt. According to the version studied by all Indonesian children, Soeharto was forced to take the reins of power from Sukarno for the sake of the country.
After Soeharto's fall eight years ago, more and more people began to dispute this official version of events. In 2004 the Education Ministry introduced a textbook that said the PKI was only one of the perpetrators of the attempted coup. However, citing "public pressure", the ministry returned to the more "acceptable" version of events in its 2006 textbook.
Reopening the 1965 attempted coup and the violence that followed certainly could harm the interests of people who played a major official role around the catastrophe. Those regarded as heroes could be categorized as human rights abusers if the truth came out. Many well-known organizations were also reportedly involved in slaughtering alleged PKI members. However, former president Abdurrahman Wahid, in his capacity as the leader of Nahdlatul Ulama, the country's largest Muslim organization, is perhaps the only leader who has had the courage to issue a public apology to the victims. Others prefer to bury the past.
The 1965 violence is one of the darkest chapters in the country's history. Millions of people suffered, including PKI members and alleged members, and their families. Many of the victims were innocent. And the relatives of PKI members and alleged members continue to be stigmatized today, suffering for events in which they played no part.
This is not intended as a defense of the PKI or any other party, or a call for the nation to dismiss entirely Soeharto's version of these events. Rather, this is a call to the nation to have the courage to honestly assess our history and find the real truth.
Forty-one years have passed. It is clear, however, that the nation, not just the government, does not want to make the effort to find the truth and restore the dignity of the victims of the Sept. 30, 1965, violence.
This is not surprising. Even when it comes to finding the truth of events on a much smaller scale, the government – and maybe the country as a whole – has shown little commitment. Look at July 27, 1996. A dozen supporters of Megawati Soekarnoputri went missing when the military broke up their gathering in Central Jakarta. Even when Megawati became the country's fifth president in 2001 she refused to find the truth of the incident, despite appeals from the victims.
The latest example is the murder of rights activist Munir Said bin Thalib. He was poisoned while flying from Jakarta to Amsterdam aboard a Garuda flight in September 2004. Despite President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's emotional promise to punish the perpetrators, two years have passed and questions continue to surround Munir's death.
People here tend to forget or pretend not to remember rights abuses as long as they are not directly affected. It is no wonder we have to go to foreign universities or foreign historians for a more objective view of this country's history.