“Book banning has a long history in Indonesia, extending back to the [Dutch] colonial period, although it was most pronounced during Suharto’s New Order period (1968–98).” (Hendri Yulius). The New Order turned into law a 1963 decree against Marxist–Leninist propaganda passed under Sukarno’s regime (1945–67) and relied on a 1965 Blasphemy Law to curb freedom of expression in a more systematic way. The New Order censors enlisted the help of academics and journalists to spot threats to ‘public order’.
A case in point is Mochtar Lubis (1922–2004), a journalist, novelist and critic of Sukarno, who had his first novel, Senja di Jakarta (Twilight in Jakarta), banned until 1970. The regimes following the New Order officially relaxed their centralised book censorship, but given the rise of conservatism in Indonesia, the spread of Communism is still unlawful to this day as well as any unorthodox religious views.
Indonesia’s most famous writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer (1925–2006), nominated for the Nobel Prize, was imprisoned in 1969 in a labour camp as part of the anti-Communist repression. It was only when he was released in 1979, that he was able to literally put pen to paper and write his world-renowned tetralogy The Buru Quartet (1980–88) about the rise of Indonesian nationalism, which he had narrated orally to fellow prisoners during his captivity (BBC, 15 August 2025). The ban on Pramoedya’s books was lifted in 2010, four years after his death. However, they remain a potential target.
Accused of blasphemy
As to blasphemy, among many cases of publishers’ self-censorship, in 2012, the biggest chain of bookstores and publisher in Indonesia, Gramedia, chose to burn thousands of its just-released copies of Lima Kota Paling Berpengaruh di Dunia (Indonesian translation of Douglas Wilson’s Five Cities that Ruled the World, a global history of Christianity). This followed protests from the Islamic Defenders Front (FPI) and the Indonesian Council of Ulama (MUI), who deemed it blasphemous.
A year ago, the August 2025 Gen-Z protests led not only to thousands of arrests and at least 10 deaths,[1] but also to indiscriminate, and at times downright clumsy, book banning and book confiscating on the grounds of civil unrest.
Here are three examples of books “treated not as literature but as criminal evidence” (Taufiq Hanafi, 6 October 2025): Franz Magnis-Suseno’s Pemikiran Karl Marx – a critical study of Karl Marx’s Thought, 1999–, Sundanese-language poetry zine, Beling: Sajak Nyeri Haté (2025) – most likely due to the cover showing a man throwing a torched bottle, looking dangerously like a Molotov cocktail – and, again, Pramoedya’s The Buru Quartet, this time ‘only’ the second volume, Anak Semua Bangsa (Child of All Nations, 1981), a novel intent on denouncing Dutch colonialism and its enduring class system.
Censorship persists
One commentator concludes his examination of banned books in 2025 with these words: “The current police censors have dispensed with any advisory committees or scholarly pretense.” (Taufiq Hanafi, 6 October 2025.) Nowadays, the old centralised, official censorship has been superseded by a more diffuse response to hardline groups by local police using arguments of social stability and cultural norms (Hendri Yulius).
Although not the worst offender in the region when it comes to banned books, Indonesian authorities should listen to young people’s cry for freedom of expression.
[1] “Youth-led Gen Z protests also took place in Indonesia in August and September, spurred by similar discontent over socio-economic inequality, resulting in 10 deaths and a temporary suspension of TikTok’s live streaming service after footage was circulated online showing the death of a 21-year-old gig economy worker who was run over by a police vehicle during the protests.” Ross Holden, “PEN International Case List 2026 – Asia-Pacific Overview”, 23/4/2026, http://www.pen-international.org/case-list-overviews/asia-pacific-overview.
Hélène Jaccomard, August 2026