Rethink on Suharto role in coup (South China Sunday Morning Post, 27 September 1998)

=== [PDF page 1] === Rethink on Suharto role in coup Jenny Grant in Jakarta South China Sunday Morning Post (1985-2000); Sep 27, 1998; ProQuest THE 1965 coup attempt in Indonesia, and the mass killings that followed, should be reassessed without the interference of former president Suharto. That's the call coming from prominent historians and former politicians, who say Mr Suharto twisted historical records to suit his own purposes. "Now that Suharto has stepped down it opens up an option where we no longer have to have a black-and-white picture," historian Dr Hermawan Sulistyo said. In an early acknowledgment of the need for review, the Government has dropped the compulsory screening by all television stations of a four-hour propaganda movie about the coup attempt and the rescue of Indonesia from communism by Mr Suharto. The film, screened on the anniversary of events each September 30, depicts evil as communism and personifies good as Mr Suharto. Dr Sulistyo said Mr Suharto's New Order regime [Unreadable] the collective memory by enforcing a compulsory version of the failed coup in the national school curriculum, and removing anything, and anyone, who might beg to differ. All Indonesian newspapers from the 1965-66 period are missing from libraries, for example, removed by the security apparatus. Members of the communist women's organisation, Gerwani, then mutilated the men's bodies before they were dumped in an abandoned well at the Halim air force base near Jakarta. [fragment from adjacent column:] [Unreadable] film glorifying [Unreadable] individual no longer suit the dynamics of reform," Information Minister Muhammad Yunus said. [fragment from adjacent column:] [Unreadable] "Historians say many unanswered questions hang over Mr Suharto's role in the violent coup attempt, and it is time for a wider revision of history." [Unreadable] public monuments and dusty museums showing gory scenes from the coup. [Unreadable] leading generals were slaughtered by communist-backed army and air force units in the early hours of October 1, 1965, as the first strike in the coup attempt. [Unreadable] Communist Party [Unreadable] Sukarno [Unreadable] [fragment from adjacent column:] [Unreadable] rural areas where land reform issues had sparked [Unreadable] alleged the CIA and Mr S[uharto] [Unreadable] In the worst-hit areas of Central Java, East Java and Bali, military and Muslim [Unreadable] the latent threat of com[munism] [Unreadable] Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.