Biography written with love

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.