A foreign view of RI, sans tears or fears<\/p>\n
Dewi Anggraeni, Contributor, Melbourne, Australia<\/p>\n
Semar's Cave, an Indonesian Journal
\nJohn Mateer<\/p>\n
Fremantle Arts Centre Press, 2004, Western Australia<\/p>\n
Paperback, 334 pp<\/p>\n
In the last decade, readers in Asian countries have come to view
\ntravel accounts with an increasingly critical eye. Asians are
\ntaking themselves and their cultures more seriously, and realize
\nthat a great number of travel journals published in English to
\ndate have been written by Western people about their experiences
\nin the \"Orient\".<\/p>\n
Often the fact that a story is told by a Westerner about an
\nEastern country is enough to make the readers of that country
\nfeel defensive.<\/p>\n
In the best of times, it is not hard to offend when writing a
\nstory about people and events which happen in another culture.
\nNow, it is no longer hectoring or expression of explicit
\ncontempt, or explicit condescension, which cause anger in people,
\nbut various subtle attitudes of superiority that cause different
\ndegrees of irritation.<\/p>\n
John Mateer's Semar's Cave, an Indonesian Journal stands out
\nas an exception to the above because, while he observes
\neverything around him, he also observes himself.<\/p>\n
To begin with, as a poet who has lived in South Africa and
\nAustralia, Mateer has the sensibility and vulnerability which
\nlend the kind of pull and magic to his book that novels usually
\nhave.<\/p>\n
Unlike most travel accounts, memoirs or journals, Semar's Cave
\ncontains no photographic images. The lack of these images is
\nhugely compensated by Mateer's style of story-telling. He draws
\ndetailed and intricate images with his words, seeming to have his
\nmental eyes always on alert.<\/p>\n
The story, as a journal, is told in a linear fashion, and in
\nthe narrative present, which gives the reader the sensation of
\nparticipating in the experience.<\/p>\n
Semar's Cave tells as much about Mateer as about the people he
\nencounters. He does not step on Indonesian soil completely
\nunaware of its historical background, neither does he feel he
\nknows so much -- and so much more -- that he could teach the
\nlocal people a thing or two.<\/p>\n
There is an inherent humility which hovers in the now
\nconscious, now subconscious level, which readers born and bred in
\nIndonesia, can fully relate. It is a humility we subconsciously
\ncarry because we know that not one area in Indonesia has
\nidentical mores to another, so wherever we go, we learn something
\nnew.<\/p>\n
Mateer metaphorically takes one or two steps each day, further
\ninto the society, always trying to place himself in political and
\nhistorical contexts, and wearing his vulnerability on his sleeve.<\/p>\n
Semar's Cave is about Mateer's experience during his writing
\nresidency in Medan, North Sumatra, which took place just after
\nSoeharto's forced exit as president, when tension still filled
\nthe air after the 1998 May riots.<\/p>\n
He records the restlessness and fear of those who were
\npolitically aware, and the laid-backness of those who were not,
\nor at least, who gave the impression of being unaffected, by the
\npolitical upheaval. And he does this by recording his own
\nreactions to his surroundings: the people he met, their place in
\nhistory and the social structure, and their self-perception.
\nConversely, he also continuously tries to assess people's
\nreactions to him.<\/p>\n
The place, the people and the surroundings are not a mere
\nbackdrop. Mateer paints them as real as he himself and his own
\ncultural and psychological mores.<\/p>\n
Not everybody he meets is beautiful and gorgeous and kind and
\neager to help, but neither are they all mean and nasty and
\nhostile and opportunistic. The reader learns of all sorts of
\npeople in Medan alone. Mateer as a narrator is rarely judgmental
\nabout cultural aspects, yet he is consistently personal. He is
\npleased, he is disappointed, he is impressed and he is angry.<\/p>\n
Toward the end of the book, the reader also gets a glimpse of
\nhow Indonesia, or rather living in Indonesia, affects some
\nexpatriates, from Australia and elsewhere.<\/p>\n
Though you may not get any belly laughs from reading the book,
\nyou may smile from time to time, from its subtle humor, be it
\nintended or not.<\/p>\n
Semar's Cave will be interesting reading for Indonesians as
\nwell as those from other countries, because in it John Mateer has
\npainted a wholesome people in a wholesome society. They are not
\nwithout serious problems, but they are certainly rich in culture
\nand humanity.<\/p>",
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