Fadli Zon Affirms Two Months Is Sufficient To Complete Rewriting Of Indonesian History

Minister of Culture Fadli Zon in Denpasar, Bali, Saturday (7/6/2025). (DOC. ANTARA)

DENPASAR - Two months is considered sufficient by the Minister of Culture (Menbud) Fadli Zon to complete the rewriting of Indonesian history.

"The completion will be in August, but we will have a public test," he said when met in Denpasar, Bali, as reported by ANTARA, Saturday, June 7.

Although he believes the existing time target is sufficient for historians, the Minister of Education and Culture does not yet know to what extent the process of rewriting history is.

He chose to trust the historians from the college who compiled it. According to him, the remaining time is enough considering they don't write history from scratch.

"We don't write history from scratch, of course from what has been written before, and we haven't written history for a long time, at least from what was published by the government. The last one was in the era of Pak Habibie's administration, 26 years ago," he said.

The former deputy chairman of the Indonesian House of Representatives reminded that the focus of rewriting history is not to find people's mistakes but to achieve the nation from an Indonesian perspective.

"So, Indonesia is not a colonial perspective, so it is professional that writes history, not activists, not politicians," he said.

Menbud also admitted that this afternoon he received input from the Fifth President of the Republic of Indonesia Megawati Soekarnoputri while attending a photo exhibition of Guntur Soekarnoputra in Jakarta.

In her speech, Megawati assessed that history seemed cut and only remembered during the New Order era, and reminded the Minister of Culture that the difference was allowed so that Megawati also wanted to gather historians.

Menbud Fadli assessed that Megawati's opinion was not wrong, so the government collaborated with historians who are experts to develop history immediately.

He had no problem with Megawati's plan to gather other historians. However, according to him, the historian who was asked to participate in this rewriting of history is already professional in his field.

"There is no problem, indeed we must have a perspective, if I tend, especially for the 80 years of Indonesia's independence, Indonesia's perspective is very important, so it is not a colonial perspective and not a group perspective, not a certain perspective," he said.