Read on - Jassin center offers literary treasure trove<\/p>\n
Lie Hua, Contributor, Jakarta<\/p>\n
A pack of junior high school students swarmed into the narrow
\nreading hall. With beaming faces, some of them grabbed the
\nmagazines on display, took a seat and were quickly absorbed in
\nthe stories, taking them a world away from noise-filled Central
\nJakarta.<\/p>\n
Others wandered over to a large picture of Chairil Anwar,
\nstaring up at the hard lines in the face of the pioneer in
\nIndonesian modern poetry.<\/p>\n
Tucked behind shrubs in a corner of the Taman Marzuki Arts
\nCenter at Jl. Cikini Raya 73, the HB Jassin Literary
\nDocumentation Center is like a cave offering up a treasure trove
\nbrimming over with delights, the likes of which are usually found
\nin a Stevenson adventure story or Chinese martial arts potboiler.<\/p>\n
The center is named after HB Jassin, who, upon his death in
\n2000 at the age of 83, had earned the title of the \"pope\" of
\nIndonesian literature for his dedication to the documentation of
\nIndonesian literary works.<\/p>\n
His four-volume Indonesian Literature in Criticism and Essays
\nconfirmed his position as the most ardent -- and still
\nunparalleled -- critic of modern Indonesian literature. In his
\nlifetime, budding writers knew they needed the acknowledgement of
\nthis towering literary figure; if he chose to write something
\nfavorable about a new writer's work, the latter was destined to
\nget a place in Indonesia's literary arena.<\/p>\n
He was also renowned for his nearly complete documentation of
\nIndonesian literary works, including handwritten manuscripts of a
\ngreat number of famous literary works and clippings of everything
\nconnected with Indonesian literature.<\/p>\n
Realizing the need to preserve the documentation for
\ngenerations to come, Jassin donated his collection to an
\ninstitution named the HB Jassin Literary Documentation
\nFoundation, set up on June 28, 1976.<\/p>\n
The collection is grouped into six categories: criticism and
\nessays, prose and poetry, drama, translation works, biographies
\nof writers and special subjects. The collection is made up of
\n16,816 titles of fiction works, 11,990 titles of non-fiction
\nbooks, 457 titles of reference works, 772 titles of drama
\nbooks\/scripts, 720 files of writers' biographies, 15,552 files of
\nclippings from the mass media, 571 titles of papers, 630 titles
\nof theses and dissertations, as well as a great number of audio
\nand video recordings.<\/p>\n
An officer of the center, Isnain, told The Jakarta Post that
\nmostly school and university students from home and abroad
\nvisited the center. Foreign researchers often do their library
\nresearch at the center for months at a time, finding it an
\ninvaluable resource.<\/p>\n
Despite its copious holdings, it's a small facility, located
\non the second floor of the building with only one long reading
\ndesk and about 10 chairs. However, Isnain said it has undergone
\nimprovements in recent years, mostly thanks to corporate
\ndonations; the ceiling has been replaced and the room is air-
\nconditioned.<\/p>\n
In an interview with Tempo Interaktif early this year, the
\ncenter's current chairman, Endo Senggono, said that the center
\nwas currently scanning its books and other documents.<\/p>\n
In the first stage, only old and rare collections would be
\nscanned, with completion scheduled for 2004.<\/p>\n
Funding remains a problem. Senggono said the center received
\nRp 70 million from the Jakarta administration annually, a sum far
\nfrom adequate for optimal operations. For example, the air
\nconditioning cannot be turned on 24 hours a day -- despite the
\ndangers to old books in a tropical climate -- and the center has
\nto wait for the \"kindness\" of writers and publishers to donate
\ntheir new books.<\/p>\n
He added that Rp 2 billion would be needed as perpetual
\nfunding for the upkeep of the center.<\/p>\n
To make up the shortfall, the center organizes regular
\nliterary and arts programs to raise funds. In addition some
\nprominent community figures who love literature have set up a
\npartnership circle for the center.<\/p>\n
It collects Rp 200,000 annually from its members and publishes
\na newsletter about the activities of the center. This association
\nalso organizes fund-raising activities and seeks donations from
\nindividuals and companies.<\/p>\n
In his address on the first-year commemoration of Jassin's
\ndeath, noted Indonesian poet and critic, Prof. Sapardi Djoko
\nDamono, stressed that efforts to introduce literacy -- including
\ncultural literacy -- must be coupled with the establishment of
\nlibraries and literary documentation centers, or else a newly
\nliterate people will soon again sink into illiteracy.<\/p>\n
As the world marks International Literary Day on Sunday, it's
\ntime to reflect once again on Jassin's lasting legacy, reflected
\nin the faces of those young students so hungry to get a chance to
\nread.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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