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Concern grows over project to rewrite history
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Workers clean an art collection at the Jakarta History Museum, also known as Fatahillah Museum, in Jakarta on June 6, 2020. (JP/Seto Wardhana)
A
government project to rewrite parts of Indonesia’s history has prompted concern that it might discourage scientific discourse and close off any other interpretations of historical events.
Culture Minister Fadli Zon, who introduced the plan in late December of last year, said last week that the project to release a new set of history books is underway and involves at least 100 historians from various universities. The books are expected to be ready by the time Indonesia commemorates its 80th Independence Day celebration on Aug. 17.
Fadli’s planned updates will center on studies by historians that suggest Indonesia was not colonized by the Dutch for 350 years, as school history books usually claim.
The project has the support of Indonesian Historian Association (MSI) chairman Agus Mulyana, who said in December that the Dutch colonization actually occurred in stages and not simultaneously across all regions. He said Indonesia “requires reinterpretation that we were not a defeated nation”.
But even long before Fadli’s initiative, academic circles have been debating about the length of the period of colonial rule, given the existence of independent regions in parts of what is now Indonesia, such as Aceh and Bali, until the early 20th century.
The new books will also cover other eras of the nation, from prehistoric to recent administrations in the Reform era.
“Every [historical] aspect that needs updating, we’ll update it. For example, the previous history books did not cover the period of [former president] Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono forward, so we’ll add them,” Fadli told reporters last week.
