Jakarta. President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo said the controversial 1984 docudrama "Pengkhiatan G30S/PKI" should be remade into a version more understandable for the younger generation.

During Suharto's rule, schoolchildren and students were obliged to watch the film (usually translated to English as "The Treachery of the Sept. 30 Movement") on the anniversary of the Sept. 30, 1965 coup by the Communist Party of Indonesia (PKI). The movie, directed by renowned filmmaker Arifin C. Noer, presented the anticommunist regime's official version of the events.

"Watching historical movies is important. But the film should be remade so that the younger generation could easily follow it ... to let them understand the dangers of communism. Also to let them know about the PKI," Jokowi said, as quoted by the state news agency Antara, during a visit in Magelang, Central Java, on Monday (18/09), in reference to Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gatot Nurmantyo's plan to screen the film at the Army institutions.

Gatot previously said that Home Minister Tjahjo Kumolo had permitted the screenings.

The plan has been criticized by many, as the film's take on the events is controversial, yet some say that showing the film is important as a history lesson.