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Indonesian History Community condemns prohibition on text books

Tempo Interactive - March 19, 2007

Imron Rosyid, Solo – The Indonesian History Community (KSI) has condemned the decision by the Attorney General to prohibit 13 historical book titles by 10 publishers from being used as texts in primary and secondary high schools.

The groups said that the prohibition on the grounds that the text books do not include the Madiun and 1965 rebellions or the word PKI (Indonesian Communist Party) in the writings on the 30 September Movement (G30S) has no basis.

"The prohibition will have a negative impact on efforts to educate the nation because it will create a impasse of thinking within the world of education," said Wahyu Susilo on Monday. Susilo is an activist from the International NGO Forum on Indonesian Development (INFID) and a historical alumni from the Eleven March State University in Solo.

The prohibition he continued, will also confuse teachers and students as well as cause huge financial losses to the publishers. Economically, it will also make it difficult for students' parents because they will have to buy alternative historical books.

In a petition, they also stated that the determination of the educational curriculum is under the authority of the National Education Department, not the Attorney General's Office. Because of this therefore, Attorney General Decree Number 19/A/JA/03/2007 dated March 5, 2007 on the book prohibitions must be revoked. Susilo added that if there are books that the government deems to be problematic, prohibitions should done through a judicial process not unilaterally.

The KSI petition has been signed by 74 historical observers. Professors of history such as Sartono Kartodirjo, Suhartono and Bambang Purwanto from the Gajah Mada University have also signed the petition. Padang State University professor Mestika Zed along with Asvi Warman Adam from the Indonesian Institute of Science are included in the petition.

"We are still continuing to garner support from historians, activists and all parties that care about the nation's history," said Susilo.

[Slightly abridged translation by James Balowski.]

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