A new Japanese film depicting the role of Imperial Japanese Army soldiers in Indonesia's war for independence from the Netherlands highlights a stark difference in views between Indonesians and Japanese over the republic's 1945 birth.
The Tokyo preview of "Merdeka," meaning "independence" in Bahasa Indonesian, offended Indonesians so much that the Indonesian envoy sent a letter to the president of the film's production company requesting that the "improper" scenes be cut.
The movie begins with a brief scene in which an elderly Indonesian woman welcomes the arrival of Japanese occupation forces on Java Island in early 1942 by kneeling down and kissing the feet of a young Japanese officer, the hero of the film.