Indonesian government's push to write official history slammed as 'authoritarian'

Australia Broadcast Center

27-05-2025

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Scholars have criticised an ambitious project by the Indonesian government to write an official national history, arguing a draft version omits key events, including some that involve President Prabowo Subianto when he was a special forces commander.
Culture Minister Fadli Zon, a longtime loyalist of Mr Prabowo, has described the books as an "updated version" of the national story intended to become "the official Indonesian history".
He said the project was necessary to incorporate new discoveries such as cave paintings on the island of Sulawesi that are at least 51,000 years old.
It would also address misconceptions about Indonesia's colonial history, Mr Zon said, clarifying that not all regions were under Dutch rule for 350 years, as is commonly believed.
Indonesia's Ministry of Culture said the official history was urgently required to establish a strong national identity, "eliminate colonial bias", and address contemporary challenges.
Mr Zon described it as "a gift" to the Indonesian people to celebrate the country's 80th Independence Day on August 17.
A group of academics and human rights activists last week visited parliament to express their opposition to a working draft that had circulated among journalists and historians.
Former Indonesian attorney-general and human rights lawyer Marzuki Darusman argued the idea of one "official history" was problematic and gave the government the final say on all historical matters.
"Who gives the government the right to take control and declare the final word on our identity?" he asked.
Allowing the government to dictate history through a single perspective could pave the way for authoritarian control, Mr Darusman warned.
Under the New Order dictatorship of Suharto, who was Mr Prabowo's father-in-law, there was an official history book used as the sole source of history education in schools until his regime collapsed in 1998.
Senior historian Asvi Warman Adam said a civil society alliance — consisting of academics, activists, and historians — had reviewed the 2025 draft and concluded that it represented "historical manipulation".
"Historical manipulation occurs when history is written to selectively highlight what benefits a regime," Dr Adam said.
The ABC independently reviewed the draft history and identified notable omissions compared to the 2018 edition of Indonesia's high school history textbook.
The government's account leaves out major events in Indonesia's contemporary history, such as the 1997 financial crisis, anti-Suharto protests and deadly crackdowns against them by his regime, anti-Chinese riots, and the eventual fall of Suharto's regime.
At that time, Mr Prabowo was a powerful general and has since been dogged by accusations of human rights abuses and war crimes.
He was stood down by the Indonesian military later in 1998 for his alleged role in the forced disappearances of democracy activists during that year.
Other important historical events such as the 1928 Women's Congress, a landmark event for Indonesia's feminist movement, and the 1955 Asia-Africa Conference in Bandung that united many countries from the global south, were absent.
Dr Adam said these omissions indicated an attempt to shape history to serve political interests rather than presenting an objective and comprehensive account of Indonesian history.
Bonnie Triyana, a historian and member of parliament for the opposition Democratic Party of Struggle, agreed that major events including human rights violations were missing from the new official history.
He said a project of this scale should undergo public scrutiny and an open process involving a wide range of historians and academics, rather than being a government-commissioned effort.
Mr Triyana told the ABC that an apparent rush to meet the deadline by August 17 meant the process had lacked transparency.
In a meeting with the Ministry of Culture, Mr Triyana urged it not to classify the revised history as "official history" — arguing that would turn history into something that could not be criticised or corrected.
The Ministry of Culture's director of history and museums, Agus Mulyana, told a forum in Jakarta last week that those opposing the national history project were "radical".
"Lately, we have been confronted with narratives responding to the rewriting of Indonesia's history. The reactions come from those who … are radical," he said.
"A group that came to the parliament said this project would cleanse past sins. I think this perspective can be considered a perversion. A historical perversion — misguided."
Mr Zon, the culture minister, told parliament that Professor Mulyana's comments did not represent the ministry's official view.
But he denied allegations of historical manipulation by choosing to highlight certain historical events.
He said the revision process had already involved 113 historians and archaeologists from across Indonesia and there would be time for public feedback before the book was launched.
Yet, the ABC understands that internal disagreements within the research team resulted in the resignation of at least two professors.
One of them left after being asked to write about president Joko Widodo and Indonesia's new capital city, despite his expertise being in colonial economic history.
"I was asked to write about Joko Widodo's period, but I declined because it is not my area of expertise," he said.
"I have never researched it, it's too contemporary and the data is still unclear."