Indonesia’s textbook rewrite can’t erase a dark history

JAKARTA - Since January, more than 100 Indonesian historians and archaeologists have been working on a new 10-volume national history series to be taught in schools. The project, which is backed by the Ministry of Culture, is scheduled for release before Indonesia marks its 80th Independence Day on Aug 17.

In theory, such an effort is overdue. Much of Indonesia’s official historical narrative has not been updated in decades. A clear, honest and inclusive account of Indonesia’s past is essential for educating the next generation.

But with the deadline fast approaching, unease is mounting. Critics fear the project may be less about historical accuracy and more about sanitising the past.

That discomfort has grown following troubling remarks from Culture Minister Fadli Zon, who leads the ministry steering the project. Mr Fadli, a close ally of President Prabowo Subianto and member of his Gerindra Party, has called for a more “positive tone” in the national history.

“If you want to dig for faults, that is easy. There are bound to be mistakes in every era, in every period,” he was quoted as saying by Antara news agency on June 1.

On a podcast aired on June 11, he went further – casting doubt on the well-documented accounts of mass rape targeting Chinese Indonesians during the May 1998 riots. “There has never been any proof. That is just a story. If there is, show it,” he said in a YouTube interview with local media IDN Times.

Following backlash, he insisted those were personal views, unrelated to the history project. He said he was not denying that sexual violence occurred, but questioned whether it happened on a “mass” scale. He added that the books will be prepared by professionals and subject to public consultation.

During a tense parliamentary hearing on July 2, Mr Fadli apologised for calling the rapes a “rumour”, and again reiterated that his remarks were a personal opinion and not intended to deny the attacks, which he condemned as violence against women. “I apologise if this is seen as insensitivity,” he said.

But when the minister in charge of the country’s historical rewrite publicly questions such tragedies, it is worrying – especially for Chinese Indonesians, who have long faced exclusion, and for victims, whose history is filled with pain.

Historian and human rights advocate Ita Fatia Nadia, who has long worked alongside survivors of the May 1998 rapes, accused Mr Fadli of misleading the public and demanded an apology to both survivors and the families of victims.

“As culture minister, he should be helping us rebuild collective memory, work towards reparations and help the nation heal. Instead, he is erasing history and causing pain,” Ms Ita was quoted as saying by The Jakarta Post.

Whitewashing history

The controversy comes on the heels of another contentious move: a proposal to name former president Suharto – Mr Prabowo’s father-in-law – a national hero. More than 30 international civic groups and prominent individuals have condemned the move. Since April, over 8,000 people have signed an online petition on the change.org website opposing it.

Suharto ruled Indonesia for 32 years before stepping down in the wake of the 1998 riots. Transparency International once named him one of the world’s most corrupt leaders, estimating he had embezzled up to US$35 billion.

The International People’s Tribunal in The Hague in 2016 concluded that the Indonesian military, under Suharto’s leadership, played a key role in the massacre of hundreds of thousands of people accused of being communists or their sympathisers from 1965 to 1966 – a ruling Indonesia rejects on the basis that the court has no remit over domestic affairs.

The convergence of these two efforts – the history project and the hero proposal – has led to accusations that the Prabowo administration is seeking to recast the past in a more favourable light.

Mr Prabowo – a former commander of Kopassus (Special Forces Command) – has repeatedly denied allegations of involvement in the 1998 riots or the abduction of pro-democracy activists. Yet these allegations remain unresolved and central to the very periods now under scrutiny.

To critics, this context matters. It risks turning a national history project into an exercise in reputation management.

“The rewriting of history has no urgency at this time. In fact, it has the potential to distort public knowledge about Indonesia’s past,” Dr Dedi Kurnia Syah, executive director of research agency Indonesia Political Opinion, told The Straits Times.

On the proposal to name Suharto a national hero, he said: “There is no harm in acknowledging that Suharto was a dictator who undermined Indonesians’ human rights during his time. By rewriting history, Mr Prabowo risks being seen as no different from Suharto – intolerant of criticism and obsessed with praise.”

Memory must not be politicised

A 1998 fact-finding team established by then President B.J. Habibie concluded that systematic sexual violence had occurred during the May riots, targeting mostly Chinese Indonesian women.

According to the report, the violence included 52 cases of rape, 14 cases involving both rape and assault, 10 cases of sexual assault, and nine cases of sexual harassment across several cities, including Jakarta, Medan and Surabaya.

Mr Habibie issued a public apology. In 2023, President Joko Widodo followed suit, officially recognising the 1998 violence as one of 12 gross human rights violations.

To question such events – or even omit them – is to betray the victims and risk repeating the mistakes of the past.

Historian Anhar Gonggong noted that all historical writing involves a degree of interpretation. With just two months left, he warned that the timeline for rewriting history is far too short for such a critical undertaking.

Eyewitnesses may remember the same event differently, as was the case in contrasting accounts of Indonesia’s 1945 proclamation of independence by nationalist leaders Mohammad Hatta and Adam Malik, Mr Anhar added.

But, he stressed, honesty is non-negotiable. While the use of terms like “mass rape” may be debated, the confirmed existence of at least 50 cases is not.

“History must be given as honestly as possible, as objectively as possible,” he said.

Respect the past, protect the future

For many in Indonesia’s ethnic Chinese community, the new textbooks were initially welcomed as a chance to correct longstanding omissions in history.

Mr Candra Yap, secretary-general of the Chinese Indonesian Association, said the initiative was “a very good step” if done with credible historians and field researchers.

He cited Dr Kwa Tjoan Sioe, a pioneering physician who offered free medical care to the poor during the Dutch colonial rule and founded a hospital in Jakarta in 1924 – a figure largely left out of national history.

“The contributions of Chinese Indonesians are lacking in current accounts,” said Mr Yap. While they may be “a slip of the tongue”, Mr Fadli’s remarks left him concerned. “The facts are there. The teams on the ground already have the data.

“We just have to sit together to find out where the truth is.”

While he acknowledged Mr Prabowo’s family ties to Suharto, he warned against letting that shape national memory. “Maybe there’s a desire to restore his father-in-law’s reputation. Mr Prabowo just became the president and he definitely wants to leave a good legacy,” he said.

High stakes

Indonesia is not the only country to wrestle with its past.

In Russia, textbooks have been rewritten to downplay Stalin’s crimes. In China, the 1989 Tiananmen Square crackdown has been scrubbed from the public record. The result is the same – the state controls memory, rewrites facts and silences pain. Indonesia must not go down that road.

Since Suharto’s fall, the country has made hard-won progress. People can now speak up, organise, and take part in public discussions – not perfect, but much better than before. These gains must be protected, not taken away.

In a June 23 editorial, The Jakarta Post warned that erasing violence from the new textbooks would not “‘right a wrong’, but whitewash our past”. It urged the government to allow the new books to tell the truth – no matter how inconvenient.

The narratives in these books will shape how young Indonesians understand their nation and their place in it. Downplaying past violence, corruption and repression will dull their ability to recognise injustice, question power or demand accountability.

As Mr Anhar put it: “If things like that are not mentioned... there is dishonesty that is conveyed to the young generation.”

Mr Fadli said the goal of rewriting history is to unite the nation. But unity built on denial is weak. True unity begins with honesty.