Archival Custody and Hidden Narratives Problems of Activating the Indonesian Left Archives in the Netherlands

Archival documents of the Indonesian Left have been long silenced. While many archives have been destroyed, abandoned, and kept under the secrecy and control of state institutions in Indonesia, those held by Dutch archival institutions can be publicly accessed for free. Yet, they are not that “accessible” for the source community, to whom these archives most matter. One reason is that they have been “shuffled” within the traditional boundaries of archival infrastructure. This chapter analyzes the power of custody in structuring the archives, through arrangement and description, impacting contexts and narratives. It maps and examines the archives of the Indonesian Left housed in the National Archives of the Netherlands and the International Institute of Social History (IISH), their trajectory towards coming to be in custody, and how they are represented to users.