AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL INDONESIA
QUOTE
7 JULY 2025
Indonesia: Government’s history rewrite project that omits 1998 mass rape should be canceled
Responding to the government’s project to write an ‘official history’ led by Minister of Culture Fadli Zon, the executive director of Amnesty International Indonesia, Usman Hamid, said:
“Authorities must cancel the project as it risks erasing uncomfortable truths, particularly concerning grave human rights violations such as those committed during Suharto’s New Order era. Alarmingly, Minister Zon himself suggested that the new history book would adopt a “more positive tone” toward each president, glorifying economic and infrastructure achievements while ignoring past abuses. Such selective rewriting serves the interests of those in power rather than truth and justice.
“Even more troubling are Minister Zon’s statements denying the mass rapes of mostly Chinese-Indonesian women during the May 1998 riots. Despite findings from the government’s fact-finding team identifying dozens of victims, he dismissed these grave human rights violations as ‘rumours’ and discredited the evidence as ‘just numbers’. The minister framed his dismissal of this issue by saying that the atrocities are a mere narrative framed by “foreign powers” to divide up the country, a typical disinformation campaign that the government often uses in responding to criticism.
“History must confront all aspects of the past, both achievements and tragedies, so that future generations can learn from previous wrongdoings. However, this government’s project represents a dangerous reductionism that threatens to stifle critical thinking and weaken human rights and rule of law principles as well as retraumatize survivors who are still waiting for justice. Rewriting history and labelling it ‘official’ is an authoritarian practice that the authorities must immediately rescind.”
I am also concerned about several threatening calls to a female activist who criticized Minister Fadli Zon’s denial of the 1998 mass rape, and reports of alleged intimidation against students in Jakarta after opposing the government’s history rewriting project online. A person claiming to be from the Ministry of Culture allegedly asked the university to remove their content. These acts are unjustifiable and must be thoroughly investigated.
Background
In January 2025, the Indonesian government, through the Ministry of Culture, launched an initiative to revise the country’s official history. The project involves 113 historians and aims to produce ten volumes of historical texts, with completion targeted for the 80th anniversary of Indonesian independence on 17 August 2025.
Speaking at a parliamentary hearing with Commission X on Wednesday (2 July), Culture Minister Fadli Zon stated that the project is ongoing despite criticism from historians and human rights activists. Critics warn that the rewrite could omit painful historical episodes, particularly serious human rights abuses such as the May 1998 riots, during which ethnic Chinese women were subjected to mass rape. Minister Zon explained that the revision intends to emphasize the positive contributions of past leaders as a means to promote national unity.
Previously, in media interviews and official statements, Minister Zon has cast doubt on the reports of mass rape during the 1998 unrest, calling them mere rumours. He also questioned the reliability of the findings from the Joint Fact-Finding Team (TGPF), established by President BJ Habibie in 1998, arguing that its conclusions lacked solid evidence and only listed numbers.
The TGPF report, released on 23 October 1998, documented 52 rape cases, 14 incidents of rape with additional violence, 10 cases of sexual assault or abuse, and nine instances of sexual harassment. Most of the victims—especially those who were raped—were ethnic Chinese women. To this day, the Indonesian government has not followed up with a full investigation into the sexual violence reported during the 1998 riots.
The 1998 unrest, which took place alongside the fall of President Suharto, remains a deeply sensitive topic. Human rights groups continue to call on the government to formally recognize and investigate the sexual violence that occurred during the riots. Activists stress that the ongoing failure to pursue justice perpetuates silence, fear, and stigma among survivors.
A female activist who was once known as a companion to victims of the mass rape in May 1998, Ita Fatia Nadia, received terror via telephone after criticizing Minister Zon’s statement. Ita was frequently intimidated by an unknown number on 15 June after becoming one of the speakers at a virtual press conference that responded to Minister Zon’s denial regarding the mass rape incident.
There is also a report that some student activists of the State University of Jakarta were allegedly intimidated on 5 July after posting their opposition to the government’s history rewrite project on their social media account. This occurred after a person claimed to be from the Ministry of Culture urged the university to remove the students’ content.