Rewriting the past: Indonesia’s new history books spook scholars

The Indonesian government’s plans to issue new history books have sparked fears that mention of deadly riots in 1998 targeting mostly ethnic Chinese in the country will be scrubbed from the text.

The 10-volume account was ordered by the administration of President Prabowo Subianto, an ex-general accused of abducting activists in the unrest that preceded dictator Suharto’s fall, claims he denies.

Scholars fear his government could use the exercise to rewrite history and cover up past abuses.

Draft volume summaries and a chapter outline seen by AFP do not include any specific section on the 1998 violence.

A summary of Suharto’s rule in the volume dedicated to him only mentions how “student demonstrations … became a factor” in his resignation.

“The writing was flawed since the beginning,” said Andi Achdian, historian at Jakarta’s National University, who has seen the outline. “It has a very strong tendency to whitewash history.”

Suharto ruled Indonesia with an iron fist for more than three decades after grabbing power in the wake of a 1965-66 massacre.

The culture minister overseeing the government’s history project, Fadli Zon, told lawmakers last week the account “does not discuss May ‘98 … because it’s small”. Neither does it promise to include most of the “gross human rights violations” acknowledged by former president Joko Widodo in 2023.

Jajat Burhanudin, a project editor, contradicted Fadli and dismissed concerns, telling AFP the new volumes would include 1998 events, with the draft outline just a “trigger for discussion”.

Officials say the new historical account is needed to strengthen Indonesian identity, but warned that any omission about its darkest past will raise eyebrows over objectivity.

“What is feared is that … the cases that have been accepted by the previous government to be resolved will be ignored,” said Marzuki Darusman, a former attorney general and head of a civil society coalition opposed to the volumes.

‘Updated’ history

While it remains unclear how the government plans to use the books, Jajat said the volumes could be used as “one of the main sources” for history books taught in schools.

Neither historian Susanto Zuhdi, who is helming the project, nor the presidential palace responded to requests for comment.

The revisionist history garnered renewed scrutiny after the culture minister questioned whether mass rape had occurred at the end of Suharto’s rule.

Ethnic Chinese Indonesians bore the brunt of the bloodshed during the riots, when rape squads — purportedly led by army thugs — roamed Jakarta’s streets.

“Was there really mass rape? There was never any proof,” Fadli told local media in an interview last month. “If there is, show it.”

A 1998 fact-finding report, commissioned by Indonesia’s first president after Suharto, found at least 52 reported cases of rape in the unrest.

“This project risks erasing uncomfortable truths,” said Usman Hamid, executive director of Amnesty International Indonesia.

Fadli told AFP the nation-building project would go ahead despite criticism. “The consensus (is) we continue,” he said. “This is an updated version of our history,” he added, saying there would be a public debate “this month”, without elaborating.

‘Historical propaganda’

The project involves 113 academics, including historians, but at least one of them has resigned.

Archaeologist Harry Truman Simanjuntak told AFP he quit in a dispute over language — the term “early history” was used instead of “prehistory” for Indonesia’s ancient civilisation.

Fadli told lawmakers the phrase was avoided because it was created by Indonesia’s former Dutch rulers.

But Harry said it showed the political influence over the text.

“It was very obvious that the editors’ authority did not exist. They were under the control of the government,” he said.

The furore around the project has caused some opposition lawmakers and critics to call for its suspension or cancellation.

Activist Maria Catarina Sumarsih, whose son was killed in a military crackdown after Suharto’s fall, accused the writers of warping the past.

“The government is deceiving the public … especially young people,” she said. Others said documenting Indonesia’s past was best left to academics.

“If the government feel this nation needs a history that could make us proud … it can’t be through the government’s version of historical propaganda,” said Marzuki. “It should be the result of the work of historians.”