The arena for people's politics<\/p>\n
Zaman Bergerak, Radikalisme Rakyat di Jawa 1912-1926 (An Age in
\nMotion: Popular Radicalism in Java, 1912-1926)
\nBy Takashi Shiraishi
\n(Translated into Indonesian by Hilmar Farid Setiadi)
\nGrafiti Pers, 1997
\n504 pp
\nRp 31,500<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Foreign experts on Indonesia have focused most
\nof their attention on history over politics, anthropology and
\nother social sciences.<\/p>\n
Several books written by historians -- both local and foreign
\n-- have looked at Indonesian history from various perspectives.
\nThe Indonesian Historiography, edited by Soedjatmoko, shows
\nclearly how varying is this bibliography, from the Dutch colonial
\npoint of view to national, Western and even Russian ones.<\/p>\n
Works by Japanese scientists are still few compared to those
\nby Dutch, Australian, Americans or French. Almost all studies by
\nJapanese are focused around their occupation of the country
\nduring World War II.<\/p>\n
Takashi Shiraishi in this book has tried to shift the focus to
\nother fields in studies mostly concentrated on Indonesian modern
\nhistory of this century. A graduate of Cornell University, home
\nto one of the best Indonesian centers in the U.S., his work shows
\ndeconstructive and discursive nuances similar to those of
\nBenedict R'OG Anderson, a Cornell professor.<\/p>\n
Unlike other historians who base their works on formal
\npolitical documents, Shiraishi also expands his research on
\nsources of Indonesian history to the literary field. Zaman
\nBergerak successfully hurdles the conventional historiography
\ndominant in the writing of the Indonesian nationalist movement.<\/p>\n
He has the impressive ability to prove the segmentation of
\ncontemporary political bases, Islam, nationalism and communism is
\nnothing but an illusion created by the colonial authority in
\norder to cripple the nature of the people's movement. First
\nintroduced as a historical reality by Petrus Blumberger, it has
\nbeen adopted by many historians.<\/p>\n
As a historical work portraying the people's resistance
\nagainst colonialism, this book does not expose heroic rhetoric,
\noften used by other historians, but focuses more minutely on the
\ndynamics and political competition among the nationalists.<\/p>\n
The writer does not place the positions of the Dutch
\nauthorities and the nationalists in a black-and-white dichotomy
\nbecause Indonesian activists did not always stand in a unified
\nposition.<\/p>\n
In his earlier work, The Disputes Between Tjipto
\nMangoenkoesoemo and Soetatmo Soeriokoesoemo, Satria vs Pandita,
\nwhich appeared in Indonesia, the magazine published by the Modern
\nIndonesia Project at Cornell, Shiraishi described the debate
\nbetween two nationalists about the idea of nationalism as a
\ndiscursive field in the search for an \"imagined community\".<\/p>\n
The debate can be seen more clearly in Zaman Bergerak, in
\nwhich Semaoen, Tjipto, Misbach and Mas Marco face Tjokroaminoto,
\nSoerjopranoto, Agus Salim and Samanhoedi.<\/p>\n
According to the author,pergerakan, or nationalist movement,
\nhas a larger and more complex meaning than merely the reawakening
\nof nationalism. It is a complex and dynamic process which has
\nroots in the people's endeavors to put their ideas into practice,
\nand articulate them in words and deeds.<\/p>\n
Shiraishi found these facts in the arenas of the people's
\nmovement in which workers, peasants, journalists and members of
\nthe upper class played active roles in political parties such as
\nSarekat Islam, Sarekat Hindia (Nationale Indische Partij), ISDV,
\nIndische Journalist Bond and Partij Communist Hindia.<\/p>\n
They used Dutch political terms like vergadering, voordracht,
\nvakboden, partij, communism, democratie and capitalist which had
\nnever been used here before. Contemporary political means also
\nincluded mass gatherings, newspapers, Javanese traditional shows
\nand strikes.<\/p>\n
Shiraishi also discusses the dynamics of radical people's
\nmovements in Surakarta, Semarang and Yogyakarta, the activities
\nof which were widely reported by Sinar Hindia, Islam Bergerak,
\nMedan Moeslimin, Oetoesan Hindia and Api newspapers. The mass
\nmedia played a role in supporting the people's thinking.<\/p>\n
Hadji Misbach's thoughts about Islam and communism were
\nprinted in serials in Medan Moeslimin (Moslem Arena) newspaper.
\nMisbach started writing the lengthy articles after he was exiled
\nby the Dutch to Manokwari, a town in what is now Irian Jaya.<\/p>\n
Shiraishi's work is a graphic picture of the Indonesian
\npeople's movement during the Dutch colonial period.<\/p>\n
-- Wahyu Susilo<\/p>\n
The reviewer is a history graduate from 11th March University
\nin Surakarta. He works at the Jakarta office of Solidaritas
\nPerempuan, a non-governmental organization for promotion of
\nwomen's rights.<\/p>",
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