Beginning to Remember charts Indonesia's turbulent decades of cultural repression and renewal amid the rise and fall of Suharto's New Order regime. These cross-disciplinary pieces illuminate Indonesia's current efforts to reexamine and understand its past in order to shape new civic and cultural arrangements.In 1998, "reformasi" brought a wave of relief and euphoria. But Suharto's removal did not dispel persistent corruption, official secrecy and denial, religious and ethnic violence, and security policies leading to tragedy in East Timor, Aceh, and other regions. But the reformasi did open up new possibilities for seeing the past. What followed was a surge of discourse that challenged officially codified national history in mass media and publishing, in public policy debate, in the arts, and in popular mobilization and politics.This volume is an exploration of some of the expressions, narratives, and interpretations of the past found in Indonesia today. The authors illustrate ways in which the dissolution of the Indonesian state's monopoly on history is now permitting new national, local, and individual accounts and representations of the past to emerge. The book covers fields from performing arts and literature to anthropology, history, and transitional justice.The book opens with Goenawan Mohamad's dramatic poem Kali, the first publication of this important work by one of Indonesia's leading intellectuals, which has become the libretto for an international opera production. Another chapter is a personal memoir by one of Java's famous shadow-play masters, Tristuti Rachmadi, for years imprisoned under the New Order. Leading historian Anthony Reid commemorates the national struggle at the regional level, while South African lawyer Paul van Zyl compares efforts in transitional justice in Indonesia, East Timor, and South Africa.

List of IllustrationsNotes on ContributorsForewordIntroductionHistorical Memory in Contemporary Indonesia--Mary S. ZurbuchenPart OneMy Life as a Shadow Master under Suharto--Ki Tristuti RachmadiKali: A Libretto--Goenawan MohamadThe Persistence of Evil and the Impossibility of Truth in Goenawan Mohamad's Kali--Laurie J. SearsIn Search of Memories: How Malay Tales Try to Shape History--Hendrik M. J. MaierPart TwoCollective Memories of the Qahhar Movement--Andi F. BaktiNinjas in Narratives of Local and National Violence in Post-Suharto Indonesia--Fadjar I. ThufailRemembering and Forgetting War and Revolution--Anthony ReidPart ThreeMemory, Knowledge and Reform--Daniel S. LevNugroho Notosusanto: The Legacy of a Historian in the Service of an Authoritarian Regime--Katharine E. McGregorThe Battle for History After Suharto--Gerry van KlinkenPart FourLubang Buaya: Histories of Trauma and Sites of Memory--Klaus H. SchreinerMaterial Witnesses: Photographs and the Making of Reformasi Memory--Karen StrasslerMonument, Document and Mass Grave: The Politics of Representing Violence in Bali--Degung SantikarmaDealing with the Past: Reflections on South Africa, East Timor and Indonesia--Paul van ZylBibliographyIndex