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history seminar scheduled for Oct. 24 at Malang State University (UM) in Malang, East Java has been canceled after a discussion with the Malang Military Command, according to a letter from the university’s history department.

The seminar was themed “Historical Change and Continuity in a Scientific and Learning Perspective” and was set to have four speakers, including Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) historian Asvi Warman Adam.

Asvi is known for his research into the 1965 tragedy, in which hundreds of thousands of alleged communist sympathizers were killed after an attempted coup allegedly masterminded by the now-defunct Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). He also testified at the International People’s Tribunal on 1965 crimes against humanity in Indonesia that was held in The Hague, Netherlands in 2015.

The letter, dated Oct. 10 and signed by history department head Ari Sapto and the seminar’s committee head, Reza Hudiyanto, was vague about the reasons for the cancellation.

It said that “a misunderstanding arose among the public and spread on social media, from certain groups, which has attracted the attention of security/intelligence forces in Malang”. It went on to say that the university had “discussed and negotiated” the matter with the military command in Malang and decided to “postpone [the seminar] indefinitely”.

The Indonesian Military (TNI) has a history of impeding scholarly inquiry into its past; last year, the TNI reportedly issued a policy temporarily banning foreign nationals from entering Indonesia’s main military museum, the Satriamandala Museum, without permission from the military’s headquarters.

Malang Military Command Post (Korem) commander Maj. Prasetya HK, however, denied the military command had told the university to cancel the seminar.

“There was no prohibition from Korem 083/Baladhika Jaya or Kodim [military command] 0833/Baladhika Jaya, because the cancellation or the postponement, was purely on the initiative of the [seminar] committee itself,” Prasetya said on Thursday. “We have never even received a formal announcement about the planned seminar.”

He added that the command had no authority to either prohibit or allow an event to occur.

Ari confirmed the university had postponed the event after an internal meeting of the faculty board.

He said the university was worried about a “misunderstanding” arising among groups that considered the seminar a leftist event.

Asvi, meanwhile, said he had received the letter via email on Wednesday and was surprised by the cancellation and the reasoning for it.

“I found it strange because the reason was comments on social media and concerns from the military command,” he said, adding that his impression from the letter was that there might be a demonstration if the seminar was to go on as planned.