I had the pleasure last Monday of launching Katharine McGregor's book, History in Uniform: Military Ideology and the Construction of Indonesian History (NUS Press, part of the ASAA Southeast Asian Publications Series). This book is probably the best account I've seen of the way that the New Order version of history was constructed. It is very well written, and one of its strengths is that it hones in on the architect of the military version of history, Nugroho Notosusanto, and shows the complexities of his various positions, as he moved from member of the Student Army in the Revolution, to 1950s short-story writer, to pro-military academic and eventually Rektor of UI and Minister of Education and Culture.
Kate's book leaves lots of room for debate, but she deals very deftly with both key issues in the construction of Indonesian historiography, and aspects of the politics of the New Order.
Comments
If my memory doesn't escape me, he was the person responsible for the movie 'Pengkhianatan G 30 S/PKI' back in 1984.
Posted by: Agus | September 8, 2007 11:16 AM