Foreign authors want banning of books stopped<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A delegation of PEN, an international
\nassociation of writers concerned about literary freedom, urged
\nthe government yesterday to stop banning books.<\/p>\n
\"Censorship is an inefficient way for fulfilling any method of
\ncontrolling,\" said Bharati Mukherjee, an Indian-born United
\nStates novelist in the delegation told a press conference.<\/p>\n
\"My plea is to urge a kind of general amnesty for writers,\"
\nshe said.<\/p>\n
The delegation, which included PEN's Freedom-to-Write
\nCommittee Program Director Siobhan Dowd and U.S. author Clark
\nBlaise, ended their week-long visit here and in Yogyakarta today.<\/p>\n
During their visit they met with Minister of Education and
\nCulture Wardiman Djojonegoro, the National Human Rights
\nCommission, local writers, journalists and publishers.<\/p>\n
One of the purposes of the visit was to investigate violations
\nof the right to exercise freedom of expression here.<\/p>\n
Among the well-known writers interviewed by the delegation
\nmembers are Arswendo Atmowiloto, Ikranegara, Eka Budianta and
\nPramoedya Ananta Toer.<\/p>\n
The delegation criticized the Indonesian government's record
\nof censorship in which some 2,000 books have been banned since
\n1965. They claimed that most of the interviewees commented on the
\nconstraints they felt in the field of their work, suggesting that
\nthe number of forbidden areas had continually forced them into
\nself-censorship.<\/p>\n
Mukherjee said that based on the interviews with the writers,
\nit was found that harmony, which the Indonesian government claims
\nto be its goal, had sometimes become synonyms for duplicity and
\nsilence.<\/p>\n
\"The kind of censorship that frightens me most is when
\njournalists said about self-censorship,\" said Mukherjee.<\/p>\n
She added that the journalists said that they sometimes had
\nself-censorship themselves, meaning that they had to forget
\nthinking about controversial thoughts.<\/p>\n
\"Let us hope that the past can be forgiven and a fresh start
\ncan be made. The time for making a fresh start is never tomorrow,
\nbut right now today,\" she said.<\/p>\n
Necessary<\/p>\n
Dowd said that during the meeting with government officials,
\nthe delegation was told that banning books was necessary in
\nIndonesia because the people were not yet educated enough to be
\nrational in reacting towards sensitive issues.<\/p>\n
The delegation's goal, however, was to argue against such
\npoint of view, she said. \"It is only by allowing free debate and
\nopen discussion on sensitive issues that people can become better
\neducated,\" she said.<\/p>\n
The government says that it bans books which contains ideas
\nsuch as Communism and Marxism because these ideologies can spark
\nreligious and ethnic conflicts.<\/p>\n
The PEN delegation said that Minister Wardiman had agreed to
\npress the case for re-examining the banning orders on books at a
\nmeeting with the attorney general.<\/p>\n
Wardiman also gave his support for an active and independent
\nIndonesian PEN center and promised to be willing to discuss
\nfreedom of expression issues with such a PEN center in the
\nfuture, the delegation announced.<\/p>\n
The delegation criticized the government's decision to jail
\nthree students in 1989 for distributing works by Pramoedya, the
\nrecipient of the PEN American Center's Freedom-to-Write award in
\n1988.<\/p>\n
The delegation has met with Pramoedya, who is one of
\nIndonesia's most renowned writer overseas. Many of his books have
\nbeen translated into foreign languages.<\/p>\n
Most of his books have been barred in his native country
\nbecause the authorities believe they carry the message of
\nCommunism and Marxism.<\/p>\n
During the meeting with members of the National Commission for
\nHuman Rights, the delegation was told that the commission was
\nwilling to investigate cases of authors whose livelihood and
\nright to write had been withdrawn by banning orders.<\/p>\n
Members of the commission also confirmed that restrictions
\nplaced on the career plans of former political prisoners's
\nchildren were unjust.<\/p>\n
\"From the interviews, it was revealed that punishment is
\npassed on to next generations,\" said Mukherjee. \"It seems to me
\nthat there is no room in a society which idolizes harmony for
\nsuch prolonged vengeance, vindictiveness.\"<\/p>\n
Blaise believes that it is only a matter of time before the
\nIndonesian government lifts the ban. He said he hoped the
\ngovernment would speed up its schedule for that.<\/p>\n
The slow path so far will hopefully be accelerated in view of
\nthe 50th anniversary of the country and as it is close to the
\n30th anniversary of the New Order government, he said.<\/p>\n
PEN members include writers, poets, playwrights, essayists and
\nnovelists. The organization has some 116 centers in Africa, the
\nAmericas, Asia, Australia and Europe. (par)<\/p>",
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