Editorial
What started as a presidential complaint about tiny font sizes has spiraled into an alarming, state-driven overhaul to rewrite Indonesian history.
Natural sciences: Senior high school students read a biology book together at SMAN 1 Pekalongan, Central Java. (Unsplash/Courtesy of Ed Us). (Unsplash/Courtesy of Ed Us)
President Prabowo Subianto dropped by a few schools, glanced at the textbooks, and concluded the font size was simply too small. From that passing observation, a sweeping national textbook overhaul was born.On Aug. 7, Cabinet Secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya announced that the President had ordered a comprehensive review of all school textbooks, from elementary through senior high school, bench-marking them against materials from ASEAN neighbors like Thailand, Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and Cambodia. An interministerial team was promptly assembled to oversee the task.
Yet, as the President’s Office soon revealed, the overhaul extends beyond layout adjustments: it will also tackle content, focusing specifically on "nationalism and nationhood".
