December 23, 2025
JAKARTA – After months of delays, the government has finally launched, after a fashion, the contentious volumes containing what politicians are calling the official historical narrative of the country.
In a modest ceremony in Jakarta on Sunday, Culture Minister Fadli Zon unveiled the 10-volume, 8,000-page collection covering Indonesia’s history from the prehistoric era to the early days of President Prabowo Subianto’s administration. According to the minister, the project, written and edited over the past year by more than 100 historians, aims to “enrich the public’s understanding of Indonesia’s journey up to the present day.”
But despite the fanfare, no one can actually read the new history book. Not the public, nor historians outside the drafting team. One editor admitted the final draft is still undergoing a “refinement process”.
The recent ceremony, Fadli explained, served merely as a “soft launch”, with the final version to be published at an indefinite date in 2026. The event was timed to coincide with National History Day, which commemorates the inaugural Indonesian history seminar held in Yogyakarta on Dec. 14-17, 1957.
Fadli’s project has faced stark opposition from the start, with historians and activists criticizing its secretive nature. Little information about the draft or its methodology has been made public. The only time the text saw the light of day was in July, when the Culture Ministry held a series of brief public discussions in four universities.
The government’s secrecy raises serious suspicions regarding this attempt to codify the country’s official narrative. Critics argue the book is an attempt by Fadli and his office to whitewash Indonesia’s “dark chapters”, specifically the mass rapes during the May 1998 riots near the end of the New Order regime, and the mass killings of members and sympathizers of the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in 1965-1966.
The latter event marked a start to Soeharto’s three-decade rule of Indonesia, and the former was part of events that predated his fall from grace. While Prabowo named his former father-in-law, Soeharto, a national hero last month.
It is natural for the public to harbor skepticism, especially given that the culture minister himself has controversially dismissed the 1998 rapes in the past, despite official reports concluding that at least 85 women, most of whom were Chinese-Indonesian, fell victim to sexual violence during the chaos.
Fadli also played a key role in the government’s push to confer Soeharto the national hero title, turning a deaf ear to widespread public opposition.
Further delays in releasing the text, despite the “soft launch”, will only fuel the fire. Any defense from the government, including Fadli’s reassurance that the book is merely “one reference” among many, will do little to quell the outrage.
Historical narratives must be inclusive by design. Rather than relying on a single narrative dictated by one party, the nation must hear from multiple perspectives so we can learn from past mistakes and avoid repeating them.
Nations across the globe are increasingly willing to acknowledge their darkest chapters. Germany, for example, has taught the history of the Holocaust to schoolchildren for decades. The Netherlands, Indonesia’s former colonial master, has seen a growing interest in decolonization, despite opposition from conservative factions.
Rather than erasing dark chapters, the government should allow marginalized voices to tell their stories, ensuring the younger generation learns comprehensively about what the nation did, both good and bad. If Fadli does not want to include these events in the history books, the least he can do is not actively dismiss them.
The old adage says, “History is written by the victors.” In the case of a modern, independent Indonesia, the “victors” are the Indonesian people themselves.
This history book should be written by, and eventually open to, every Indonesian.