Political reconciliation and emancipatory reinterpretations of Jakarta’s Pancasila Sakti Monument through heritage tourism: an exploratory study

This article examines the case of Pancasila Sakti Monument, a frequently visited heritage site overseen by the Indonesian Army, to analyse the potential of this site in facilitating the development of an emancipation space. The monument serves to commemorate the emergence of Indonesia’s New Order regime (1966–1998), characterised by the effort to eliminate the Indonesian Communist Party in the aftermath of the 30 September 1965 coup attempt. Even after the collapse of the New Order regime in 1998 and the emergence of competing narratives regarding the official account of the 1965 events, the narratives presented by the monument remain unchanged. Through conducting a series of formal and informal interviews with the principal of Labschool Jakarta, the history teacher, two students, the Director of Pancasila Sakti Monument, an official museum guide, and the coordinator of the Pancasila Ideology Development Board (Badan Pembangunan Ideologi Pancasila, hereafter BPIP) in 2018–2019, this article closely investigates recent reconciliation efforts concerning Indonesia’s history as a process, evaluating the potential for these heritage-based initiatives to foster the emergence of emancipation from dominant heritage narratives. Ultimately, we examine whether the reinterpretation of the Pancasila Sakti Monument can facilitate national reconciliation and support emancipation efforts.