Jakarta – National University (Unnas) historian Andi Achdian is questioning the government's decision through the Ministry of Culture to revise the history of the Republic of Indonesia.
According to Achdian, it is uncommon for democratic states to write the history of their country. Usually, he said, the country's history is written and interpreted by historians, and not an official state program or project. Usually, he said, the writing of an official history is only done by authoritarian states.
"Usually in democratic countries, right, what are they doing with that, making such a program. Writing history. Usually its authoritarian states, which have an interest in writing an official history, which they claim to be the official history", Achdian said when contacted on Wednesday May 7.
Furthermore, Achdian also criticised several historical chapters that have been lost in the project being carried out by some 100 authors. Achdian claims to have seen an outline of the history rewrite and is concerned because there are significant revisions from before.
"While other problems such as those recognised by the state itself, right, the 12 violations what's it called, past gross human rights [violations] are also not included", he said.
Based on the outline, Achdian said that the historical revision only contains a glorification of the presidential administrations from Indonesia's founding president Sukarno to former president Joko "Jokowi" Widodo.
Meanwhile, said Achdian, several important events such as the human rights violations in 1965 to the abduction of pro-democracy activists toward the end of former president Suharto's New Order are not included in the book outline.
"So there are no historical wounds. Everything is fine. Now that's a problem from history, of the official history", he said.
According to Achdian, the writing of an official history by the state is no longer talking about debate or about the methods or material selection. According to Achdian, the state should also be responsible to the public.
Because, history is also closely related to the victims of violence committed by the state. Achdian believes that the state should look at these aspects. "But now, for example, what about the victims' families. What about other communities whose stories are removed in the official history", he said.
"My hope is that it's opened up. Who are the voices of the black umbrella, Mrs Sumarsih, right? These historians seem to prefer to listen to Jokowi's voice, the IKN [his new capital city project in East Kalimantan] like that, from what we know it's a mess, right?" Achdian added, referring to the weekly Kamisan (Thursday) actions that have been held in front of the State Palace by the families of victims since 2007.
Public review before release
A similar view was also conveyed by historian and House of Representatives (DPR) Commission X member Bonnie Triyana from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P). He is asking that the manuscript of the history rewrite be reviewed by the public before being published.
According to Triyana, the public must provide input for the book because, according to him, true history belongs to society.
"I ask that the history book manuscript be reviewed by the public before being published. In order to get input from the public. Because true history is the property of society, not just the state", Triyana said when contacted on Tuesday May 6.
Earlier, Minister of Culture Fadli Zon said the government will rewrite Indonesia's history with a target of completing this in August to coincide with the 80th Anniversary of the Republic of Indonesia.
Zon stated on Tuesday that the history rewrite would involve more than 100 historians from various universities that have qualified competencies in their fields.
He also mentioned the the writing of Indonesia's official history was last outlined in 2012 in the book Indonesia in Historical Streams. He also said said that the history rewrite will be the latest book on official Indonesian history and would become a teaching guide in schools.
"Yes, everything that needs to be updated, we'll update it. For example, the last period is the period before Pak [Mr] SBY [former president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono] if I'm not mistaken. Later, of course it will be added to", he said. (thr/dal)
- History rewrite won't change official narrative on 1965, PKI or Madiun Affair. CNN Indonesia – May 7, 2025
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Sejarawan Kritik Fadli Zon: Sejarah Resmi Biasa Ada di Negara Otoriter".]
