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oung people critical of the official version of national history are looking to promote more discussion around the events of Sept. 30, 1965, which brought the authoritarian New Order government into power by demonizing leftists and communists.

Young people are voicing opposition to the version taught in school history books mainly through outfits, mostly T-shirts and pins.

Devy Kurnia, 26, wears a T-shirt with a picture of Tan Malaka, a revolutionary hero in Indonesia.

“It is our way of protesting [against the winner’s version of history],” he said, adding that he refused to remain ignorant of history. “Being ignorant of the past leaves the future unclear,” he added.

For Devy, Tan Malaka is an important figure in the history of Indonesia’s struggle for independence.

Tan became a cult figure among Indonesian youth following the fall of former strongman Soeharto in 1998. Soeharto persistently demonized Tan for his leftist and radical thoughts, cleansing his name from the pages of history.

Devy said young people were brainwashed into hating all things left wing or communist.

Fransiskus Adi, 21, who also proclaims a love of leftist themed T-shirts or pins, said he wore the symbols to represent his stance.

“I feel sorry for those killed in the [anticommunist witch-hunts and purges in the 1960s],” he said.

Adi said school history lessons demonized the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). “It is not fair to blame the ideology for the failure of a few,” he said.

Under Soeharto, schoolchildren since 1984 were obliged to watch Arifin C Noor’s propaganda film Pengkhianatan G30S/PKI (The Treason of the September 30 Movement and the PKI) every year on Sept. 30.

The film portrays the events of 1965, including the slaying of six Army generals on the night of the 30th, when the PKI allegedly tried to overthrow the government.

There are many versions of the events, with some blaming the PKI for an attempted coup, some exonerating the PKI entirely, and others blaming the CIA and MI6.

Some of these alternative views found their way into history text books in 2004, which were later banned, with some confiscated and publicly burned.

However, not all young people are able to understand history beyond the official version.

Malvin Alexander, 21, said he believed what he was taught. “I don’t know what else to believe if I cannot trust even my history book.” (not)