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ay 29, p4

Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P) chair Megawati Soekarnoputri has called for nationwide soul-searching, especially by examining what really transpired during the 1965 anticommunist purge.

Speaking at an event organized by the National Resilience Institute (Lemhanas) on Thursday, Megawati, who was the country'€™s fifth president, emphasized the crucial need for people to view critically what she described as '€œa painful chapter in the country'€™s history'€.

'€œI am a living witness of the 1965 [purge]. This country went through psychological turmoil because we were influenced by what happened,'€ Megawati said. Furthermore, the country had yet to recover, she said, from the trauma caused by the events. '€œThe incident left a scar on the heart of the people. But we have the choice to fix the past and set the country back on track. ['€¦] I choose to face the future and repair the past,'€ she said.

Your comments:

Watch the look of silence. You'€™ll at least see what really happened at that time. It is indeed a grim chapter in the country'€™s history.

A million '€œalleged communists'€ died, but she'€™s is going to be using it only to clear her father'€™s name and perhaps regain power.

Simba

Mega wants the 1965 tragedy re-examined '€” no wonder: without any word from Jokowi, out of the blue the Attorney General'€™s Office has been talking about reconciliation for past rights abuses. This administration starts with and ends with the unelected person.

Wandering Star

There aren'€™t too many Eastern European countries left that have not fully embraced the West. Things have certainly changed since Sukarno'€™s fall from relevancy.  

Jagera

Yes, it is actually quite interesting that she appears to be advocating that Indonesian students should receive education in Eastern European countries such as Russia.

Could she actually be insinuating that, in her opinion, Indonesian institutions of higher education are maybe not up to scratch, or could it be that she may actually be far more concerned that Indonesian students attending Western universities and particularly those in the United States, which she appears to have something a full blown twitch-on about, might just be tempted to remain there after graduation and put their hard won degrees to a far higher betterment?  

As for repairing the past, well you cannot literally change historical fact nor indeed alter why certain events actually occurred '€” you can only learn from the mistakes of the past and try to ensure that similar errors are not repeated in the future.

I suppose, however, depending on who you are, it is possible to attempt to rewrite history to your own ends, but I don'€™t think that too many people are going to be fooled by that these days and more  particularly those who lived through 1965, let alone through her own actual presidential term itself, for that matter.

May L Pf

Set the record straight: look at the troubled past of the 1965 coup. Great idea!

But maybe it is not by you.

Benam