Hamsad, a modest man finally gets his due<\/p>\n
T.Sima Gunawan, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
When veteran literary figure Hamsad Rangkuti learned he was
\nselected as the winner of the Khatulistiwa Literary Award for
\nIndonesia's Best Fiction 2002-2003, one of the first things he
\ndid was to order a box of name cards.<\/p>\n
\"I made the order at a sidewalk kiosk for Rp 25,000 per 100
\nname cards. And see, now the box is half empty,\" said Hamsad,
\nshowing the box of his name cards when The Jakarta Post met him
\nat his modest home in Depok, West Java.<\/p>\n
The award was presented at the posh Plaza Senayan in South
\nJakarta on Oct. 17 after his collection of short stories, Bibir
\ndalam Pispot (Lips on the Chamber Pot) beat the other four
\nnominators -- Joko Pinurbo'sTelepon Genggam (Cell Phone), Nukila
\nAmal's Cala Ibi, Sapardi Djoko Damono's Ada Berita Apa Hari Ini,
\nDen Sastro? (What's the News Today, Den Sastro) and Radhar Panca
\nDahana's Lalu Batu (Then Stone).<\/p>\n
The 60-year-old won Rp 70 million and a scholarship for a
\nwriting course in London from the British Council as well as to
\nhave his winning work translated into English.<\/p>\n
\"I am looking forward to England. I hope I will get many
\nexperiences that will inspire me to write,\" said Hamsad. So far
\nthe only foreign countries he has visited are Malaysia, Singapore
\nand Thailand.<\/p>\n
As for the money, he plans to buy a minivan that will be
\noperated as an angkot (public transport). This new business will
\nbe managed by his two unemployed sons -- one of them is an
\nengineer and the other one has a college degree in art.<\/p>\n
Hamsad has four children from his marriage to Nurwindasari --
\nhis youngest child is still in high school, while the other one
\nis married and has a good job.<\/p>\n
\"I already have education insurance for my youngest child and
\nhopefully I will not have any problem with the money to finance
\nher education,\" said Hamsad, who obviously is devoted to his
\nfamily very much.<\/p>\n
Born in Titikuning, Medan, North Sumatra, in 1943, Hamsad's
\nfather was a Koran teacher who was also a good story teller.<\/p>\n
\"As far as I remember, I am the fourth of seven siblings --
\ntwo of them died when they were very young. But my parents told
\nme they actually had 10 children. Well, you know that at that
\ntime, life was very hard and infant mortality was high. It's a
\nmiracle that we have lived so long,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Such conditions, in fact, has inspired many of his stories,
\nwhich are also based on many daily experiences and his keen
\nobservation of his surroundings.<\/p>\n
\"I tell stories of the poor and their sufferings, but I am not
\nlamenting,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The winner of a literary award from the Jakarta administration
\nin 2000 has been writing since he was a teenager. But he said
\nthat at that time, he was so shy that he did not dare use his
\nreal name, Hasyim. Therefore, he decided to use a nom de plume,
\nHamsad -- which is a combination of his own name, his father's,
\nMuhammad Saleh, and his mother's, Djamilah.<\/p>\n
He admitted that at that time he was not so productive as he
\nfound it hard to write. But things changed after he joined a six-
\nmonth writing workshop conducted by the Institute of the Jakarta
\nArt Education and the Ministry of Information in 1975.<\/p>\n
His short stories have been published in the local and foreign
\nmedia, including Manoa, a Pacific Journal of International
\nWriting, University of Hawaii Press (1991), Beyond the Horizon
\nand Short Stories from Contemporary Indonesia, Monash Asia
\nInstitute (1991). He has had four collections of short stories
\npublished too, some child stories and a novel, Ketika Lampu
\nBerwarna Merah (When the Light Turns Red, 2001).<\/p>\n
\"The one that has sold best is my last book, Bibir dalam
\nPispot. But, it has not yet been reprinted,\" he said.<\/p>\n
According to Hamsad, only 3,000 copies of the book were
\nprinted, meaning that even though the book has won such as a
\nprestigious award, the sales has not surpassed 3,000 copies as
\nmany are still available at local book stores.<\/p>\n
Hamsad, who was the editor of Horison literary magazine from
\n1986 to 2002, said the magazine printed 12,000 copies, but 9,000
\ncopies were subscribed by the Ministry of Education to be
\ndistributed to the high schools across the country.<\/p>\n
He lamented the poor reading culture among the people of this
\ncountry, especially literary books. \"Even my children don't like
\nreading my books. So I tell them the stories,\" said Hamsad, who
\nalso likes story-telling, a skill he learned from his father, in
\naddition to painting.<\/p>\n
The title of his book, Bibir dalam Pispot is taken from the
\ntitles of his two short stories -- Maukah Kau Menghapus Bekas
\nBibirnya di Bibirku dengan Bibirmu? (Will You Erase the Mark of
\nHis Lips on My Lips with Your Lips?) and Pispot (the Chamber
\nPot).<\/p>\n
The first short story, which is quite popular here and has
\nbeen presented several times in short-story reading events, tells
\nabout a woman who asked the narrator to kiss her before she
\ncommitted suicide by plunging into the sea.<\/p>\n
The other one is about a man who was accused of snatching a
\ngold necklace in a public minivan. The man was believed to
\nswallow the necklace and was forced to take laxatives. He
\nrelieved himself three times, but the police could not find any
\nevidence in the chamber pot. He actually stole the necklace
\nbecause he needed money to buy medicine for his child who was
\nseriously ill. But the police could not find the necklace because
\nevery time the jewelry came out, the man swallowed it again.<\/p>\n
Hamsad's only novel, Ketika Lampu Berwarna Merah, was a winner
\nof a writing competition held by the Jakarta Art Council in 1981
\nand was serialized at Kompas newspaper in the same year. It was
\npublished as a book only in 2001 and a film producer was
\ninterested in making a film based on the book. For this, Hamsad
\nwas paid Rp 2.5 million.<\/p>\n
\"It's hard to live as a writer,\" said Hamsad, whose receives
\nRp 600,000 for a short story published in a daily newspaper here.<\/p>\n
Yet, he decided to resign from Horison because he wanted to
\nconcentrate in his writing. He is now still working on his second
\nnovel about the becak (three-wheel pedicab) evictions in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
At same time, he has also been moved by the fate of thousands
\nof squatters who lost their homes during the recent forced
\nevictions by the Jakarta administration. \"I am interested in
\nwriting about the evictions of the poor people,\" said Hamsad.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/hamsad-a-modest-man-finally-gets-his-due-1447893297",
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