Biography written with love

By Arief Suditomo

JAKARTA (JP): A biography which is also a love story will soon materialize on bookshop shelves entitled My life with Eri-san: A Freedom Fighter, written by Mrs. Mang Eri Soedewo about her late husband, Ambassador Eri Soedewo.

Mrs. Mang said she was motivated to write about her husband after she was asked by Eri's close friends and colleagues, Frank Ward, former U.S. ambassador to Sweden and Svante Tornvall, former Chilean ambassador also to Sweden, about the availability of her husband's autobiography.

"I told them Eri did not have much time to write about his life because he was preoccupied in writing another book about his former dormitory at Jl. Prapatan 10, Central Jakarta, a place which produced dozens of Indonesian dignitaries," she said at the launching of the book on Thursday night.

The Indonesian dignitaries who stayed at the Jl. Prapatan dormitory include former Minister of Health Soewardjono Soeryaningrat, the late former Indonesian Ambassador to the U.S. Soedjatmoko, shipping tycoon Soedarpo Sastrosatomo and former Minister of Education Sjarif Thajeb.

Mang said that Eri's close friends insisted that she herself should write a biography.

"I am just an ordinary housewife, I express my love through my cooking, but writing is another story because I have never written a book before," she said at the time.

Mang then changed her mind because she realized her husband led a very interesting life and she came to a point where she decided writing his biography was the right way to express her love for Eri.

Eri Soedewo, the former Indonesian ambassador to Sweden who died aged 65 on Nov. 30, 1984 after succumbing to liver cancer, accomplished much in his life. As a doctor he attained professorate for his expertise in heart and thorax surgery. As a military man he was a major general in the army.

As a lecturer Eri was appointed as rector at one of the most prestigious educational institutions in this country, the state- owned Airlangga University, from 1966 to 1974. He was appointed ambassador to Sweden in 1974 and retained the post until 1979.

Eri was also a sportsman who was sent by the government to participate in the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome with the yachting team.

Realizing what a perfect man her husband was, Mang found herself a tutor, Australian writer Lolo Holbein, in 1989. And for about three years she went back and forth to Adelaide, Australia, for tutelage and to write the biography.

"I stayed in Adelaide mostly during spring," she said.

Mang said she interviewed many friends of her husband to recall some of the memories which she had only vague recollections of.

The book was finished in 1993 and for about a year Mang went to Singapore and Kuala Lumpur to find a publisher.

"I almost lost my faith in the 600-page biography because nobody wanted to publish it. Then I approached the Airlangga State University, which has a publishing business, and they agreed to publish it," she said.

Among friends of her late husband whom she interviewed were Soedarpo Sastrosatomo, a national shipping tycoon who was also a medical student, former Speaker of the House of Representatives Kharis Soehoed, former Indonesian ambassador to the U.S. Azhari and former Indonesian ambassador to West Germany Muskita.

Mang said 3,000 copies have been printed in the first edition by the Airlangga State University and will sell at Rp 25,000 (US$11.4) per copy.

Mrs. Rahmi Hatta, the widow of the late former Vice President Moh. Hatta, said at the book's launching party that the book is worth reading.

"I believe that Mang's sincerity and honesty will make the biography she wrote a very nice book worth reading," she said.

However, Mang said that the biography is just a book which is easy to read and was written with much love.