Loyal, outspoken, loved: Mochtar's friends remember<\/p>\n
A. Junaidi, The Jakarta Post\/Jakarta<\/p>\n
To the young people today, especially young reporters, the name
\nof Mochtar Lubis does not carry much currency. This towering
\nfigure in Indonesia's journalism is indeed more appreciated
\nabroad than in his own country, according to one of his friends.<\/p>\n
Poet and environmental activist Eka Budianta said he first
\nlearned about Mochtar's international fame in a ceremony
\ndedicated to him in the Philippines long time ago.<\/p>\n
He said he was moved by a citation given to Mochtar as \"the
\ntrue living hero\" of Asia following the recognition of Mochtar's
\nworks in Indonesia.<\/p>\n
\"As the audience gave him a long standing ovation, I burst
\ninto tears,\" said Eka in a night of friends' gathering in memory
\nand tribute to the journalist-cum-novelist, painter,
\nenvironmental and human rights activist, and orchid and ceramics
\nlover at Taman Ismail Marzuki on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Mochtar died on July 2 in Jakarta from lung disease. He was 82
\nyears old. He was survived by three children and eight
\ngrandchildren. His wife, Halimah, died three years ago.<\/p>\n
Mochtar received only jail terms from his country, Eka said.
\nIndeed, Mochtar was jailed several times during both the Sukarno
\nand Soeharto regimes.<\/p>\n
The Megawati Soekarnoputri government, gave Mochtar the
\nBintang Mahaputra award on Saturday, 30 years after he won the
\nRamon Magasaysay award, for journalism and literature, from the
\nPhilippines.<\/p>\n
Mochtar's vast range of interests continued to amaze his
\nfriends and admirers at Thursday's gathering.<\/p>\n
Among his friends in attendance were lawyer Adnan Buyung
\nNasution, senior journalists Atmakusumah Astraatmadja and D.H.
\nAssegaf, political scientist Mochtar Pabottingi, writer Ramadhan
\nK.H. and short-story writer Hamsad Rangkuti.<\/p>\n
Adnan who along with Mochtar and other activists founded the
\nrespected Indonesian Legal Aid Institute Foundation, said
\nMochtar was a true supporter of the Constitution due to his
\ndevotion to uphold the principles of a constitutional state.<\/p>\n
At the ceremony at the Taman Ismail Marzuki Art Center in
\nCentral Jakarta on Thursday evening Buyung said his interest in
\nthe law was inspired when he read investigative reports in the
\nIndonesia Raya daily, in which Mochtar Lubis was the chief
\neditor, in the 1950s. Buyung was a student of Budi Utomo high
\nschool at the time.<\/p>\n
He said the daily bravely reported corruption cases involving
\nbig businessmen and high-ranking officials, including foreign
\nminister Roeslan Abdoelgani, the close aide of first president
\nSukarno.<\/p>\n
Besides the corruption cases, the reports that angered the
\ngovernment most were on Sukarno's affair with Hartini, whom he
\neventually married. The reports led his wife, Fatmawati, the
\nmother of President Megawati Soekarnoputri, to leave the
\npresidential palace.<\/p>\n
The Sukarno regime, backed by the military, banned the daily
\nand jailed Mochtar for nine years until 1966 without trial.<\/p>\n
\"I was the one who held the key that unlocked Mochtar's cell.
\nI was a prosecutor at that time and I was proud that I could meet
\nMochtar,\" Buyung said.<\/p>\n
Mochtar's journalistic career started when he became a foreign
\nnews editor for the state news agency Antara in 1945 before he
\nco-founded Indonesia Raya in 1948.<\/p>\n
Mochtar's tribulations did not end with the passing of the Old
\nOrder. The New Order regime of Soeharto turned out to be no less
\nrepressive than its predecessor.<\/p>\n
The daily, which resumed publication in 1968, was banned by
\nSoeharto's regime in 1974 due to its reports on corruption in the
\nstate oil and gas mining company Pertamina.<\/p>\n
Mochtar, was jailed for two and a half months but released by
\nthen attorney general Ali Said.<\/p>\n
Eka, who along with Mochtar founded the Indonesian Green
\nFoundation, said Mochtar was never afraid of anything, including
\nthe military, save from a possibility that his wife might fall
\nill.<\/p>\n
\"During my friendship, I never saw a noted writer as loyal as
\nMochtar was to his wife,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Indonesia Raya's former journalist and novelist Hana Rambe
\nonce said to Mochtar that he could live abroad, get high respect
\nand meet another woman.<\/p>\n
\"No, I don't want another woman. I just want my Hali,\" Mochtar
\nreplied as quoted by Hana in the ceremony. Hali was the nickname
\nof Mochtar's late wife.<\/p>\n
Daniel Dhakidae of Kompas daily called Mochtar a universal man
\nwho should have lived during the renaissance period in the 18
\ncentury. \"Many people did not realize that Mochtar was also an
\navid yoga practitioner,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Among Mochtar's literary works are famous novels, such as
\nHarimau! Harimau! (Tiger! Tiger !) Senja di Jakarta (Dusk in
\nJakarta) and Jalan Tak Ada Ujung (Endless Road). Mochtar also co-
\nfounded Horison cultural and literary magazine.<\/p>\n
Mochtar, who was born in Padang, West Sumatra on March 7,
\n1922, was the sixth child among 12 children of a noble family. He
\nwas noted for his outspokenness and consistently campaigned for
\nequality and human rights.<\/p>",
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