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G30S/PKI film is the correct version of history: Tommy Soeharto
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Hutomo Mandala Putra, popularly known as Tommy Soeharto, is seen during the 2014 presidential election in Jakarta. (kompas.com/Adysta Pravitra Restu)
T
he son of former president Soeharto, Hutomo "Tommy" Mandala Putra, defended the Indonesian Military's (TNI) move to screen the propaganda film Pengkhianatan G30S/PKI (Betrayal of the Communists).
Tommy, the youngest son of former president Soeharto, said on Sunday that more people should go and see the film, as it contains the accurate details of what really transpired on Sept. 30, 1965.
"We can't turn our backs from history. What's in the film is the true version of history and nobody could change that," Tommy said as quoted by tribunnews,com.
Tommy, however, said that it should not be made mandatory for people to see the film. "There should be no compulsion," he said.
Pengkhianatan G30SPKI, which is directed by acclaimed director Arifin C. Noer, tells the story of Soeharto in quashing a coup blamed on the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI). In the big-budget and award-winning film, communists are depicted as godless savages who mutilated military officers in a frenzy.
Under the New Order regime, the movie was made mandatory viewing and was broadcast on public television annually on the night of Sept. 30. The government stopped the annual broadcast in 1998, soon after Soeharto was ousted from power.
