Qualla: Where Indonesia Comes to Argue with Its Past

Where Indonesia Comes to Argue with Its Past: Introduction

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Annisa Alwita from Malang, Indonesia, CC BY-SA 2.0. Sukarno did not want to be buried here. The founding president of Indonesia, deposed and placed under house arrest during the transition to the New Order, had asked for a simple grave near the Bogor Palace where he had once governed. When he died on June 21, 1970, his successor Suharto overruled the request. The burial would take place in Blitar, a small city in East Java, next to Sukarno's mother's grave. The family protested. The anti-Suharto newspaper Merdeka published an editorial noting that Sukarno had wished to be buried near Bandung. A historian later argued that Suharto's choice was strategic: placing the grave in a peripheral city would discourage pilgrimages that might threaten the new regime's hold on power. It did not work. By 1980, 1.4 million people were visiting the site annually.

Image: Annisa Alwita from Malang, Indonesia | CC BY-SA 2.0

Where Indonesia Comes to Argue with Its Past: A Daughter's Calendar

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Humboldt, CC BY-SA 4.0. Every June 21, on the anniversary of Sukarno's death, the grave became a stage. His daughter Megawati Sukarnoputri, who would later serve as Indonesia's fifth president, turned the annual commemoration into a public demonstration of dissent. As chairman of the Indonesian Democrat...

Image: Humboldt | CC BY-SA 4.0

Where Indonesia Comes to Argue with Its Past: Politicians at the Threshold

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Syselpunk, CC BY-SA 4.0. The political pilgrimage tradition outlasted Suharto's fall. In democratic Indonesia, visiting Sukarno's grave before announcing a presidential campaign became something between custom and superstition. Joko Widodo came before his 2014 campaign. Prabowo Subianto visited before ru...

Image: Syselpunk | CC BY-SA 4.0

Where Indonesia Comes to Argue with Its Past: Holy Ground on Javanese Terms

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit EkoKintokoKusumo, CC BY-SA 4.0. The politicians are not the only pilgrims. Tens of thousands of Javanese Muslims visit Sukarno's grave each year seeking spiritual blessing, following a tradition that sits uneasily within orthodox Islam. Veneration of the dead is often considered blasphemous in Islamic theology,...

Image: EkoKintokoKusumo | CC BY-SA 4.0

Where Indonesia Comes to Argue with Its Past: The Architecture of Memory

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Humboldt, CC BY-SA 4.0. The burial complex covers 1.8 hectares and is divided into three zones: the courtyard, the terrace, and the mausoleum. This tripartite structure mirrors Javanese beliefs about the stages of existence -- prenatal life, life, and death. Sukarno's grave lies beside his parents', and...

Image: Humboldt | CC BY-SA 4.0