Vol. 5, No. 2 (2009): 21\u201342.<\/p>\n
Abstract<\/strong><\/p>\n Since the end of Suharto’s rule in 1998, Indonesia’s official history has been\u00a0contested, especially by former political prisoners from the 1965 period, who had\u00a0previously been regarded as the regime’s enemies. In challenging the New Order\u00a0regime’s historical accounts, these former prisoners have written, and in some\u00a0instances published, their memoirs, as well as taken part in oral history projects.\u00a0This paper examines the genre of ‘prisoner memoirs’ and oral history work,\u00a0which have flourished in the post-Suharto period. It surveys some of the common\u00a0themes and motivations among such works and draws upon interviews with expolitical prisoners engaged in both memoir-writing and oral history projects. The\u00a0paper also charts how such a genre and method can assist with documenting\u00a0more of Indonesia’s post-independence period from a diverse range of sources.\u00a0Writing on Indonesia’s post-independence history has posed many difficulties due\u00a0to the New Order regime’s representation of the Sukarno period as constituting a\u00a0‘political mistake’. The end of the Cold War, however, has generated more interest\u00a0among scholars in how Southeast Asian leftist movements and organisations dealt\u00a0with questions of ideology and mobilisation in the nation-building phase of the\u00a01950s and 1960s. Mindful of the numerous challenges of working with long-suppressed\u00a0memory, this paper argues that ‘prisoner memoirs’ and oral history work can\u00a0become a significant source for analysing the post-independence period, specifically the 1965 events in Indonesia. The paper outlines how, in the case of\u00a0the 1965 mass killings, oral history sources can play a role in enabling\u00a0researchers to understand the contours of the violence, the nature of participation\u00a0and witnessing and ways of resisting participation. The case of Indonesia’s\u00a0killings has been little analysed compared to other instances of mass violence.<\/p>\n Author’s bio<\/strong><\/p>\n Vannessa Hearman is a researcher and PhD candidate in the School of Historical Studies at the University of Melbourne, Australia. She is working on a research project on the relationship between Islam and the politics of memory in post-authoritarian Indonesia. For her PhD dissertation, she is examining the mass killings and political violence in East Java from 1965-1968, focusing on political transition and violence affecting the area in that period. She has longstanding research interests in human rights issues in Indonesia and East Timor and has previously researched perceptions on truth and reconciliation among 1965 political prisoners. Between 2000-2002, she worked for the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) as an interpreter. Originally trained in economics and economic history, her Masters in Asian Studies from the University of Melbourne analysed private sector participation in post-conflict reconstruction in East Timor.<\/p>\n Download\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Download full article (PDF)<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Vol. 5, No. 2 (2009): 21\u201342. Abstract Since the end of Suharto’s rule in 1998, Indonesia’s official history has been\u00a0contested, especially by former political prisoners from the 1965 period, who had\u00a0previously been regarded as the regime’s enemies. In challenging the New Order\u00a0regime’s historical accounts, these former prisoners have written, and in some\u00a0instances published, their memoirs, … Continue reading