116-117 Katalog Lagacy of Sagacity

an image-it is from the historical pictures
taken when Suharto was witnessing the
exhumation of the bodies of the murdered
Army generals, which had been thrown to a
well in the Lubang Buaya area in Jakarta, in
September 1965. The details of the event are
still being disputed until today.
Pictures and films in which Suharto is present
in that condition had been widely distributed
in the electronic and printed media in
Indonesia and abroad. The political tension at
the time made everyone in Indonesia read the
newspaper and watched the TV minutes by
minutes. The image of Suharto with sunglasses
and military cap was not only popular but also
stuck in the collective memory of the nation.
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Putu, who was born in 1970, did not
experience the event. In the subsequent thirty
years after the event, however, people had been
constantly reminded of the image of Suharto
in Lubang Buaya; either to commemorate the
beginning of the New Order era he ushered in,
and also as a political propaganda related to the
effort to fiddle with history. In such a process,
Suharto became the icon of the September
event. It is therefore understandable if Putu has
been moved to make a link between the icon
and the event when Suharto was ousted from
power in 1998 and his death in 2008-which
again caught the attention of almost everyone
in the nation.
and creates debates when the event was
adopted into a movie entitled Sejarah Orde
Baru (The History of the New Order, produced
by PF ~ , directed by Arifin C. Noor). In the
jJ otographs and films of Suharto in Lubang
3 aya, Suharto often bends his head, hides
:. eyes with the dark sunglasses, and tends to
2';oid the cameras.
olitical analyses see that Suharto's stance
0 ·s that he did not use the event, the
em :nation of the bodies of the seven
::"! "dered Army generals in Lubang Buaya,
a- a 1 eans to gain legitimacy for power-at
:...... e :u-ne he probably had not taken a certain
::.:.;:ce. The photos and films of the event-in
·.·.-:::ch he \\'as in a central position-had
::0: 'Jeen pre-arranged, and neither had
::...... ey Deen designed by' some public relation
o -.cer. However, historians never doubted
::"'-.e a that Suharto and the military used
::...:"e L bang Buaya event to lay the blame on
:.......e bdonesian Communist Party (PIG) as the
: ..rrce of the political upheaval in September
: ' 5. The tension between the military and
::...-e Communist Party had been noted since
::'.e re -olutionary war in 1945 - 1950 and it
'. -as \\idely known that the two groups were at
s:
-=:-:e unglasses and Suharto's effort to avoid
::...:"e cameras at the time signified a careful
2.::~ _~de.
In Mystery behind Sunglasses I, Putu presents
Suharto's face almost like a portrait. Suharto's
face is in a frontal position. It is as if Suharto is
posing for him or a camera. This implies Putu's
imagination and shows that the picture is not
a copy of a photograph from a history book or
the mass media, because in the actual series of
photographs, one cannot find such a pose.
At the time of the exhumation, the
itical situation in Indonesia had been full
.: certainty and tension. That was why
:= - ar 0 had not taken any certain stance. His
5~ ~ res and attitude at the time betrayed a
:eei g of insecurity. At the time he was already
a. ~_.2.io r general in the Army and the head of
::...:"e :\rmy's Strategic Commando (the Kostrad).
5":'- he '-as sporting a gun. Political analysts
52'
is as a sign that he did not trust anyone,
~'.·e his guards and men.
The issue of the pose has been the subject of
analyses by historians and political observers
ensed something that generally
e- aped the attention of most observers: he
Apakah yang akan terjadi bila bukan Suharto
yang tampil pada pergolakan berdarah 1965,
bila Suharto menempuh peralihan kekuasaan
secara lebih demokratis, bila Suharto bukan
militer? Pertanyaan kodrati ini pula yang
mendasari kedua lukisan Putu Sutawijaya,
Mystery Behind Sunglasses I dan II.
Pada kedua lukisan itu Putu menampilkan
wajah Jenderal Suharto berkaca-mata hitam,
bertopi tentara, dan berbaju loreng. Gambaran
Suharto semacam ini bukan rekaan Putu walau
melibatkan imajinasinya. Gambaran ini berasal
dari seri foto Suharto ketika menyaksikan
penggalian jenazah tujuh jenderal Angkatan
Oarat yang dibenamkan ke sebuah sumur
di kawasan Lubang Buaya, Jakarta, pad a
September 1965. Seluk beluk peristiwa ini
tidak sepenuhnya jelas sampai sekarang.
Seri foto dan film dengan penampilan Suharto
seperti itu disiarkan secara luas oleh media
massa cetak maupun elektronik di Indonesia
dan di luar negeri. Ketegangan politik waktu
itu membuat semua orang di Indonesia
membuka koran dan televisi dari menit ke
menit. Karena itu gambaran Suharto berkacamata hitam bertopi tentara ini bukan cuma
populer tapi menancap sangat dalam pad a
ingatan bangsa Indonesia.
Putu yang lahir pada 1970 tidak mengalami
kejadian itu. Namun, sepanjang 30 tahun
sesudah peristiwa politik itu, gambaran
Suharto di Lubang Buaya diulang-ulang.
Oi satu sisi untuk memperingati awal
pemerintahan Orde Baru yang dibangunnya,
di sisi lain sebagai propaganda yang berkaitan
dengan upaya merekayasa sejarah. Oalam
proses ini wajah Suharto ini menjadi ikon
peristiwa September 1965. Maka tidak aneh
. bila Putu tergerak menghubungkan ikon ini
dengan peristiwa turunnya Suharto pada 1989
dan meninggalnya Suharto pada 2008-yang
kembali menyerap perhatian semua orang.
Pada Mystery Behind Sunglasses I Putu
menampilkan wajah Suharto hampir seperti
potret. Wajah Suharto mengambil posisi frotal.
Suharto seperti berpose dan sadar menghadapi
kamera. Ini mencerminkan imajinasi Putu
dan menunjukkan lukisan ini dibuatnya tidak
dengan mengkopi foto yang didapat dari buku
sejarah at au media massa karena pada sed foto
yang sebenarnya tidak bisa ditemukan pose
wajah frontal seperti ini.
Persoalan pose itu sudah menjadi kajian
para sejarawan dan pengamat politik dan
memunculkan perdebatan ketika peristiwa
itu diangkat menjadi film dengan judul,
Sejarah Orde Baru (produksi PFN, karya
Arifin C. Noor) . Pada rekaman foto dan film
Suharto di Lubang Buaya, Suharto lebih sering
menunduk, menyembunyikan matanya di balik
kaca mata hitam (yang pekat) dan cenderung
menghindari kamera foto maupun kamera
televisi.
Oilihat melalui analisis politik sikap Suharto
itu menunjukkan ia tidak menggunakan
peristiwa penggalian jenazah tujuh jenderal di
Lubang Buaya untuk mendapatkan legitimasi
dalam meraih kekuasaan-ketika itu ia
belum mengambil sikap. Foto dan film berita
peristiwa ini-di mana ia berada pada posisi
sentral-tidak diatur dan sama sekali bukan
hasil rancangan perwira public relations .
Namun para sejarawan tidak pernah sangsi
bahwa Suharto dan militer menggunakan
peristiwa di Lubang Budaya pada film ini
untuk menunjuk Partai Komunis Indonesia
(PKI) sebagai pangkal pergolakan politik yang
terjadi pada September 1965. Ketegangan
militer dan PIG tercatat dalam sejarah sejak
perang kemerdekaan antara 1945-1950 dan
kedua kelompok diketahui berusaha saling
menjatuhkan.
Kaca mata hitam dan upaya Suharto
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