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Civil coalition rejects govt's rewriting of history project
The Indonesian Historical Transparency Alliance (AKSI) member Jaleswari Pramodhawardani, who leads the research institute Lab45, said a circulating 30-page draft outline of the history book reveals several omissions of the country’s history.
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Still fresh in our memory: A man plays a guitar in the May 12 Reform Park in Grogol, West Jakarta, on May 13. The park was built to pay respects to four Trisakti University students who were killed during a mass demonstration to fight for reforms in May 1998. (The Jakarta Post/Dhoni Setiawan)
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ights activists and historians gathered at the House of Representatives complex in Senayan, Jakarta, on Monday to demand lawmakers reject the government’s controversial bid to rewrite Indonesian history, warning it could whitewash the nation’s darkest chapters and serve the political interests of President Prabowo Subianto and past regimes.
During a hearing with the House’ Commission X overseeing education and culture, a civil coalition dubbed the Indonesian Historical Transparency Alliance (AKSI) presented a five-point manifesto rejecting a Culture Ministry-led project to produce a 10-volume official history of Indonesia.
The project, involving at least 100 historians and set for completion by the country’s 80th Independence Day on August 17, is intended to serve as the primary reference for historical books across all educational levels.
“This massive project appears to be a deliberate effort to engineer the past with a single interpretation,” one point of the manifesto states, adding that the rewriting of history could be a subtle way for the government to control public perception and monopolize the national narrative.
The alliance, which also includes more than 50 supporters including authors, artists and legal experts, further warned that the project could become an instrument to legitimize the current administration’s use of power.
“The most dangerous thing is that the new history book can help clean the sins of the current regime [of President Prabowo] or the New Order regime [led by Prabowo’s former father-in-law Soeharto], where human rights violations occurred," said AKSI head Marzuki Darusman.
Read also: Analysis: Prabowo regime rewriting national “his-story”
