ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses popular novels from the New Order period that have often been discussed in secondary literature as texts that have broken the taboo subject about the mass killings, but that on closer inspection show conformity to the grand narrative of the regime. In 1979, when international pressure on the New Order regime concerning its brutal treatment on tapol became too strong, many were released after years of imprisonment without trial. Coinciding with the release, three novels set in 1965 were published; they are Ahmad Tohari’s Kubah (1979), Yudhistira ANM Massardi’s Mencoba Tidak Menyerah (1979), and Ashadi Siregar’s Jentera Lepas (1979). Ajip Rosidi’s Anak Tanah Air (1985) and N. H. Dini’s Jalan Bandungan (1989) follows in the 1980s. These popular novels show the same pattern, that the persecution of real leftists is not questioned, as they are depicted to be dangerous, although great sympathy is shown towards the families of alleged leftists and those who were lured in by the PKI but were never leftists at heart. As such, the novels serve to maintain the Red Scare in the country even with the massive release of alleged leftists.
