The battle for history after Suharto - Beyond sacred dates, great men, andlegal milestones

Historical discourse has become an important aspect of post-Suharto Indones ian politics. The nationalist instrumentalization of the past, always stron g in Indonesia, took on a martial aspect under the New Order. Even today, t he establishment remains reluctant to abandon it. But new visions of histor y have arisen out of the widespread protests against the New Order. Some pr eserve the form of a martial nationalist historiography, but displace it to the regions (especially Aceh and Papua), thus turning it against Jakarta. Others, both at a national and a local level, embrace more societal histori ographies in which the state and national unity are not idealized, and in w hich internal conflict is not taboo.