Monday 30 May/Tuesday 31 May 1.00 AM on SBS TV
One for the night owls or the VCR!
1:00 DOCUMENTARY: SHADOW PLAY – This
documentary looks at one of the defining periods of the twentieth century
history when more than 500,000 Indonesians were slaughtered as President
Sukarno was swept from power by President Suharto's New Order. New light is
shed on the shadowy events behind the terror campaign which took place after
six of Indonesia's
top generals were dragged from their beds and killed on September 30, 1965. The
Indonesian communist party –
the PKI – was blamed for the
failed coup attempt. President Sukarno's alliance with the PKI, at the height
of the Cold War, made him deeply unpopular in the West. CIA involvement in the
coup has never been confirmed but communiqués from American, British and
Australian diplomats reveal their readiness to back the army against the
previously-powerful PKI. This included complicity in the propaganda war waged
by the Indonesian army. Reports from journalists on the ground in Indonesia were
suppressed or reinterpreted as describing a civil war instead of a one-sided
massacre. Indonesian, American and Australian diplomats and journalists are
amongst those who provide powerful testimonies on the hidden history of this
era which continues to reverberate in Indonesian politics today. Directed by
Chris Hilton. (Commissioned by SBS Independent, in English)
Leonie Wittman
R/Senior Curriculum Adviser
Languages Unit
Curriculum K-12 Directorate
NSW Department of Education & Training
3a Smalls Rd
Ryde NSW 2112
Tel: 61 2 9886 7681
Fax: 61 2 9886 7160
Email: leonie.wittman@det.nsw.edu.au
