by Dames Alexander Sinaga
JAKARTA, May 31 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia is revising its national history based on the latest findings, including those from prehistoric and colonial eras, and aiming to officially launch it this year during the country's Independence Day in August.
The rewriting of the history, which has begun since early this year, involves more than 100 local historians and archaeologists from a number of universities and communities in the country. The project is expected to be completed before the country's upcoming Independence Day on Aug. 17.
Minister for Cultural Affairs Fadli Zon has recently said that the main goal of the project is to update the national historical narrative in a comprehensive and relevant manner to current developments.
With a cost of 9 billion Indonesian rupiahs (around 552,000 U.S. dollars), the minister also said that the urgency of procuring this project is to eliminate colonial bias in the country's history.
"Indonesia's historical records will be updated based on research by historians. We will soon draft an updated version or add revisions to our history books in preparation for the 80th anniversary of Indonesia's independence," he said.
According to him, recent probes show that the history of civilization in Indonesia is older than previous findings. For instance, new studies suggest that the caves in Maros-Pangkep karst situated in South Sulawesi date back 40,000 to 52,000 years, older than the previous estimate of 5,000 years. "Such findings must be included," he said.
He explained that Indonesia has been absent from the process of writing national history for more than 26 years, and that needs to end immediately.
During this 26-year hiatus, Zon considered that many new findings on Indonesian history needed to be included. If only with this rewriting, the public, especially the younger generation, would get new information from the perspective of local experts and archaeologists, not the West, he added.
"We cannot continue to pass on half-finished history to the next generation," Zon stressed.
According to Susanto Zuhdi, a professor at the University of Indonesia who is chief of the rewriting program, the progress of the project has so far reached 70 percent. He expressed optimism that the project would be finished on time.
Meanwhile, Chairman of the Indonesian Historians Society Agus Mulyana said that recent findings have boosted public confidence in the nation's historical legacy, showing it to be as ancient as other great civilizations.
"Sometimes, we lack confidence in our historical legacy, whereas research shows that our prehistoric era predates many civilizations we know, such as those in Egypt or Europe," said Mulyana, a professor and historian at Indonesia Education University in West Java Province.
He said the team revises the colonial history in Indonesia, particularly the claim of 350 years of Dutch colonization in the archipelago.
Mulyana said that Dutch colonization in the archipelago occurred in phases, with regions like Aceh in the country's most western region only under Dutch control in the early 1900s.
The Dutch colonial takeover of Aceh was marked by the dissolution of the Aceh Sultanate, about 30 years after Dutch forces launched an attack in 1873. However, resistance by the Aceh people continued until 1914, he said.
"Such findings, I believe, require reinterpretation that we're not a defeated nation," he said. ■
