Publications in Chinese have been banned altogether. As described above, ethnic Chinese were made the subject of de jure as well as de facto government discrimination following the 1965 coup attempt, amid allegations that the coup plotters received support directly from Beijing through Chinese-Indonesian intermediaries. All Chinese-language schools were closed permanently in 1966. Because the closures were carried out almost overnight, many students lost the ability to continue their education. 105 Historical studies have been a leading target of the censors.
Censorship thus presupposes an official history.
In at least one case, this was made explicit. Tan Malaka was one of Indonesia's most important nationalist figures and an early leader of the Indonesian Communist Party. The book, published by P.T. Pustaka Utama Grafiti, was an Indonesian translation of a 1976 Leiden University dissertation by Poeze, and the book had sold 2,700 copies by the time it was banned. A highly respected political scientist at the University of Indonesia, Dr. Alfian, had written the introduction to the Indonesian edition. The book, according to the banning order, could result in the spread of Marxist-Leninist teachings.