'Leftist' publishers serve the curious<\/p>\n
By Ida Indawati Khouw<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): A visitor to Kalam bookstore in the Utan Kayu
\narea of East Jakarta was amazed by the number of new books of
\ngood taste flooding the store every week.<\/p>\n
The Utan Kayu bookstore is famous for selling books with a
\nperceived \"communist\"-leaning, which has won it the reputation of
\nbeing a \"leftist bookshop\".<\/p>\n
Aside from leftist materials, the store also offers books
\nbanned by Soeharto's New Order regime either because they were
\nwritten by his critics or condemned as \"leftist\" which he feared
\nwould undermined the state ideology Pancasila.<\/p>\n
\"Gosh... I have yet to finish the books I bought some time
\nago and new ones have already come. Almost all of the books are
\ninteresting, but I can't afford to buy them all,\" said the
\nstudent of Driyarkara School of Philosophy in Central Jakarta.<\/p>\n
The book' covers are well-designed, conveying an impression
\nthat they were published by major publishers. The names of some
\npublishing companies are unfamiliar.<\/p>\n
A lot of these new generation publishers emerged shortly after
\nthe fall of Soeharto in May 1998. Their numbers are unknown
\nbecause they did not register themselves with the Association of
\nIndonesian Publishers (IKAPI), a legacy of the New Order
\nbureaucracy.<\/p>\n
Most of the \"alternative\" publishers are in Yogyakarta, where
\n20 of them have sprung up since Soeharto's fall, according to
\nAmirudin, a director of LKIS (Institute of Islamic and Social
\nStudies.<\/p>\n
Most of the publishers focus on the left-leaning books about
\nMarxism, Leninism, communism or those critical of the Soeharto
\nregime.<\/p>\n
\"The business is running well because people are curious to
\nread the books that the past regime banned,\" said book author and
\nobserver Veven Sp. Wardhana from the Institute for the Study of
\nFlow of Information (ISAI).<\/p>\n
Some books have been reprinted several times, such as
\nDemokrasi Untuk Indonesia (Democracy for Indonesia) by self-
\nexiled Acehnese rebel leader Hasan Tiro (reprinted five times),
\nMadilog by Tan Malaka (three times), Karl Marx's Das Kapital
\n(three times) and Revolusi Rakyat (People's Revolution) by Che
\nGuevara (twice).<\/p>\n
Andri E. Martias from CV Adipura, a book distributor in
\nYogyakarta, said that some books had been reprinted only a month
\nafter their release.<\/p>\n
\"Usually, the first edition consists of 2,000 copies,\" Andri
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Although their books may become best sellers, many of the
\n\"alternative\" publishing houses have their \"offices\" at students'
\nboarding houses along narrow alleys in Yogyakarta.<\/p>\n
\"Publishing ventures (mostly in Yogyakarta) have become like
\n'home industries',\" said Stanley Adi Prasetyo from ISAI and also
\na founder of Garba Budaya, an alternative publisher in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
\"Our capital is people's trust: we started the business with
\nmoney borrowed from friends without interest,\" said Stanley who
\nestablished Garba Budaya in 1997 with six friends, aiming at
\npublishing books the mainstream publishers would not dare print.<\/p>\n
Agus Edy Santoso, founder of Jakarta-based Teplok Press, said
\nthat distributors played a key role in the alternative publishing
\nbusiness.<\/p>\n
\"A computer will do to start the business and all other work
\nwill be handled by the distributor,\" Agus said.<\/p>\n
The publisher only serves as the \"material supplier\" namely
\nselecting the materials, working on the translation -- for books
\nin foreign languages -- and doing the editing.<\/p>\n
\"It is the distributor who will finance all aspects of the
\nproduction up until printing,\" Agus said. The production cost is
\nabout Rp 10 million for 2,000 copies of a 100-page book.<\/p>\n
Andri from Adipura, a distributor, has linked up with several
\nsmall-scale publishers.<\/p>\n
\"If we are sure that the book will be marketable, we won't
\nhesitate to finance the project,\" he said, saying that the
\ndistributor received 10 percent of profits.<\/p>\n
He said that between 1997 and 2000 Adipura linked up with
\nabout 20 publishers, but the number has declined to only 10
\nbecause the rest have become financially independent.<\/p>\n
A general criticism of the alternative publishers is that they
\ntend to ignore rules of the publishing business and their books
\nare poorly edited.<\/p>\n
However, Buldanul Khuri the owner of Yayasan Bentang Budaya, a
\npublisher in Yogyakarta, said that no alternative publishers
\nwould survive if they were obliged to follow the copyright laws,
\nfor instance.<\/p>\n
\"How can a small publishing company pay the copyright
\nroyalties to an author which usually amounts to about US$500 to
\n$1,000 per title?\" he said.<\/p>\n
Buldanul admitted that sometimes to keep the production costs
\ndown, publishers selected cheap, unprofessional translators.<\/p>\n
\"I don't know how they translate difficult books like Das
\nKapital. It seems that they just translate them word for word,\"
\nsaid Stanley.<\/p>\n
Many believe that unprofessional alternative publishers would
\neventually go bankrupt in the future because the market would
\nseek better quality books.<\/p>\n
Andri and Buldanul agreed that the market for leftist books
\nwas now declining. \"The market seems to be too saturated with
\nleftist books. That's why we are now no longer concentrating on
\nthem,\" said Buldanul.<\/p>\n
But it does not mean the end of alternative publishers. They
\nplan to form an association to strengthen themselves.<\/p>\n
\"The (future) organization is not aimed at competing with
\nIKAPI. We'll learn from IKAPI's weaknesses, for instance that it
\nis doing nothing against the banning of books, doing little about
\nthe hefty taxes on books and paper and lacking the initiative to
\nfight for higher shares of profit for publishers,\" said Agus.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/leftist-publishers-serve-the-curious-1447893297",
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