Silent Song reveals the making of a writer<\/p>\n
Nyanyi Sunyi Seorang Bisu 2, Catatan-catatan dari Pulau Buru
\n(The Silent Song of a Mute 2, Notes from Buru Island);
\nBy Pramoedya Ananta Toer;
\nLentera, Jakarta, February 1997;
\nxviii + 259 pp.;
\nRp 30,000<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The name Pramoedya evokes a fierce resistance to
\noppression and a firm belief in humanity.<\/p>\n
Noted literary critic HB Jassin once said in his collection of
\nletters: \"... (Pramoedya's) Keluarga Gerilya (A Guerrilla's
\nFamily) and Mereka yang dilumpuhkan (The Vanquished) (are)...
\nfelt by the Indonesian people as voicing their own conscience and
\ntheir protest against the oppression and injustices practiced by
\nthe colonial power.\"<\/p>\n
Hard labor and torture during his exile on Buru island only
\ngalvanized him, enabling him to keep aflame his spirit to live
\nand to write.<\/p>\n
Nyanyi Sunyi Seorang Bisu (The Silent Song of a Mute), loose
\nnotes and letters penned during his years on Buru and later
\nedited by a friend, Joesoef Isak, consists of two volumes. Book
\nI, published in 1995 to coincide with the writer's 70th birthday,
\nwas banned shortly after its publication.<\/p>\n
Ironically, outsiders could read the complete book as early as
\n1988, when its Dutch translation appeared in Holland.<\/p>\n
The second volume, published here in February 1997, started to
\ncirculate only early this year when the winds of reform began to
\nblow across the country.<\/p>\n
The first volume contains harrowing stories of how political
\nprisoners accused of involvement in the failed coup attempt by
\nthe Indonesian Communist Party on Sept. 30, 1965, spent their
\nexile on Buru, an island in the Maluku archipelago. This second
\nvolume, by contrast, deals with Pramoedya's reflection on his
\ngenealogy, his early life as a budding writer, his two marriages
\nand his hopes for his children.<\/p>\n
But he is a controversial figure: well-known writers like
\nTaufik Ismail and Mochtar Lubis constantly remind the young
\ngeneration of the paradox of Pramoedya's struggle for humanity.<\/p>\n
Pramoedya was active in Lekra, the cultural affiliate of the
\nIndonesian Communist Party. Senior writers recall his
\nauthoritative ways when he himself was in power, as found in a
\n1995 book, Prahara Budaya: Kilas Balik Ofensif Lekra\/PKI dkk.
\n(Cultural Storm: Flashback of the Offensives of Lekra\/PKI cs.).<\/p>\n
The bitterness in the literary world here continues as
\nPramoedya, a recipient of international awards for literature,
\nhas never acknowledged or apologized for his deeds against his
\ncolleagues.<\/p>\n
Pramoedya's version of his ways are gradually revealed in the
\nbook, which shows how he was tempered by experiences in his early
\nyears.<\/p>\n
Pramoedya was born in Blora, East Java, on Feb. 6, 1925 as the
\neldest child. His father, who actively opposed Dutch colonial
\nrule through education, was the principal of a local private
\nschool run by Boedi Oetomo, an organization seeking educational
\nimprovement for local people.<\/p>\n
The elder Toer hated feudalism so much that he dropped the
\nword Mas -- a Javanese title denoting a lower rank of nobility --
\nfrom his name, leaving only Toer.<\/p>\n
Pramoedya remembers his father as a man of principle. He
\nwrites that upon his mother's death his father sent him a letter
\nsaying that he would never remarry. The couple had pledged that
\nin the case of death of one of them, the survivor could remarry
\nonly if permission had been acquired from the deceased.<\/p>\n
His mother, 11 years younger than his father and one of his
\nformer students, was born to a feudalistic family. Though
\nconfined largely to household chores, she liked reading
\npractically anything and could always find a story for her
\nchildren.<\/p>\n
\"Sometimes she told stories in the evening, surrounded by her
\nchildren. ...Sometimes ...lying down while breast-feeding her
\nbaby. She could tell a chain of stories for several nights.\"<\/p>\n
These stories, local and foreign, which Pramoedya got
\nacquainted with early in life, must have contributed to shaping
\nhis future as a writer.<\/p>\n
It was also thanks to these stories, which \"aroused beautiful
\nfantasies\", that young Pramoedya was introduced to local
\nnationalist leaders of the time and also world-renowned figures
\nlike Gandhi.<\/p>\n
Attitude<\/p>\n
Pramoedya's hard attitude to life must have stemmed from his
\nfather's stern behavior.<\/p>\n
\"Every afternoon... (he would) teach me arithmetics,
\nJavanese, Dutch, geography, conversation... and all ended with
\ntears. Of course he never laid a hand on me, but his seldom-heard
\nvoice, his smile, rarer still, and his burning eyes were all the
\nmore horrifying to me than the giants in a shadow puppet show.\"<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, his father found the time to give his eldest son
\nsome words of advice, words summing up what Pramoedya has been
\ndoing all his life -- struggle.<\/p>\n
\"When you watch a shadow puppet show, or hear a shadow puppet
\nstory, or read the story yourself, what you'll find is but a
\nbattle. Never forget to find the battle. To forget this is... an
\nerror. In a battle, whoever is right will be the winner.\"<\/p>\n
In 1942, shortly after his mother died, Pramoedya left Blora
\nfor Jakarta. During most of the Japanese occupation in Indonesia
\n(1942-1945), he worked in a news agency, Domei, and got to know
\nseveral people who would later become important figures in
\nindependent Indonesia, such as Adam Malik and Mohammad Yamin. He
\nalso took courses to improve himself and became acquainted with
\nwriters like Sanusi Pane and Asrul Sani.<\/p>\n
In a letter to one of his daughters, Pramoedya dwells on his
\nmarriages. His first marriage in 1950 lasted only five years
\napparently owing to his financial weakness. He left his house
\nwith only his clothes, a motorcycle and his typewriter.<\/p>\n
But his wife's words of separation kept ringing in his ears:
\n\"No other woman could bear living with you for five years.\"<\/p>\n
Later he married Maemunah, the niece of M.H. Thamrin, a
\nnational leader.<\/p>\n
He recounts: \"In my first year of detention I suggested that
\nshe remarry because she was still young and pretty. Ten years is
\nnot a short time.\"<\/p>\n
She stayed well over five years: Maemunah remains his wife
\nuntil today.<\/p>\n
-- Lie Hua<\/p>\n
The reviewer teaches at the Department of English, School of
\nLetters, at the private National University.<\/p>",
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