Jakarta – Minister of Culture Fadli Zon said that an official project to rewrite Indonesian history would not change the history of the 1965 massacre, often referred to as the G30S/PKI (September 30 Movement/Indonesian Communist Party) or the 1st October Movement (Gestok).
Zon claimed that there is no controversy regarding the bloody history of the 1965 affair that caused millions of people to die as a result of the political event.
"It's clear okay. Those people declared it by themselves, right. So what do you want (changed), specifically don't distort history", said Zon when speaking in South Jakarta on Tuesday evening May 6.
"It's very clear, right. The PKI did indeed want to take over power from the state at that time. Where's the controversy? There's no controversy", he added.
Likewise, Zon said that the political events surrounding the PKI rebellion in 1948, often referred to as the Madiun Affair, would also not be changed. He claimed that the incident was an attempt at rebellion by the PKI which caused many victims from the Islamic mass organisation Nahdlatul Ulama (NU).
"(Madiun) 48 was clearly a rebellion. Yes, it was clearly a rebellion and facilitated by the Dutch. That's clear. Want to see who was massacred by the PKI in 48? There were many. The victims were NU clerics who were abducted", he said.
Earlier, President Prabowo Subianto mentioned that Dutch imperialism through its intelligence operations played a role in a number of events in the country, including the 1948 Affair and the Darul Islam/Indonesian Islamic Army (DI/TII) movement.
He said that the Dutch played a role in bringing back Musso, the leader of the first generation of PKI, from Moscow to Indonesia.
"The Madiun Affair was as if it were communists, but it turned out that it was the Dutch who brought back Musso and [first PKI chairperson] Semaun, all of that, facilitated by the Dutch", said Prabowo in a speech at a cabinet plenary meeting in Jakarta on Monday May 5.
The Madiun Affair was one of the important events in Indonesian history. The Madiun Affair refers to the PKI rebellion in Madiun, East Java, in September 1948, led by a number of old PKI figures such as Musso. The incident was triggered by internal problems in the country and the influence of international politics.
Prabowo mentioned that regarding the Madiun Affair, Indonesia had already proclaimed independence in 1945 but the Netherlands still controlled Indonesia at that time. "The Netherlands controlled Batavia [Jakarta], all the airports were controlled how could they reach Madiun", he said. (mab/dal)
Notes
The so called Madiun rebellion blamed on the PKI was triggered by an attempt by Vice President Muhammad Hatta in alliance with right-wing military officers to disband PKI and left-wing military units that had fought against the Dutch during the national independence struggle. When pro-PKI soldiers were provoked into taking control of the Central Java city, this provided the pretext for the government to rid itself of the PKI and city was retaken and thousands of PKI members slaughtered.
The official narrative that the PKI was behind the 1965 affair, in which the G30S movement kidnapped and killed a group of military officers, has long been debunked by independent historians as a cover for right-wing sections of the military led by then General Suharto to remove Indonesia's leftist founding president Sukarno and wipe out the PKI. Although post-1998 governments have continued to cling to the official version, many Indonesian history text books and academic articles no longer include the term PKI when referring to the alleged G30S/PKI coup.
[Translated by James Balowski. The original title of the article was "Fadli Zon Tegaskan Sejarah Peristiwa 65 dan Madiun soal PKI Tak Diubah".]
