Censorship policy questioned

JAKARTA (JP): Noted writer Sapardi Djoko Damono yesterday questioned the government's censorship on literature, pointing out that fiction should realistically reflect society.

Sapardi in particular attacked four areas regarded as sensitive in literature and in public discourse that are bound to draw the attention of government censors.

The four areas, known by the Indonesian acronyms of SARA, are: ethnicity, religion, race and tribal group. The government said that these four issues are sensitive and should not be exploited, fearing they may have a destabilizing effect on the nation.

Speaking after his induction as professor in the School of Letters at the state-run University of Indonesia, Sapardi said that preventing authors from writing about these issues would not help the development of Indonesian literature.

"If we cannot write about our different customs and all the other differences, what will our novels be about?" said Sapardi, who is also a renowned poet. "Do you write novels out of empty space?"

"We can't be like silat players forever and keep avoiding these issues," he said referring to the Indonesian martial arts which stresses avoidance of conflict.

Earlier in his oration entitled Literature, Politics and Ideology, Sapardi analyzed the various bans against literary works, including those by Russian poet Anna Akhmatova in the 1960s, to the more recent bans in Indonesia.

"If we want to become more mature, the public, the writers and the government must be open to new ideas," said Sapardi, 54.

This may not turn Indonesian writers into masters overnight, but at least there will be more opportunities.

He said some of the bans were "absurd", citing as an example the ban against a poetry reading of Maria dari Magdala by Linus Suryadi AG, on the grounds that it might offend Catholics and Christians.

"But it was first published in the Hidup magazine which is led by a priest!" said Sapardi.

"It goes to show that everyone must have some restraint...the public, authorities and writers must not resort to anger to the extent that writers are then forced into exile," he added, referring to Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen.

Also ironic, he said, is the way authorities ban certain art performances, even though the printed form has already been allowed to circulate.

"All these bannings show how literature is actually important here, although we have a low interest level in reading," he said.

Open procedures could be used in fostering better understanding between the government and the literary world, said Sapardi, citing a rare, legal settlement here of a novel which outraged Moslems for featuring the prophet Mohammad.

In 1970, a book editor, H.B. Jassin, was sentenced to two years probation for publishing the short story, Langit Makin Mendung. In his defense Jassin called for differentiating fact from fiction.

A solution to "better communication" among writers, authorities and the public includes research into literature and politics, said Sapardi, whose works include Sosiologi Sastra (Sociology of Literature).

The decision to install Sapardi as the University's 199th professor was actually approved last year by the Ministry of Education and Culture.

"Maybe the distance between Senayan and Depok is too far," he joked, citing the locations of the Ministry and the University.

Sapardi has been teaching since 1964, when he graduated from the English literature department of the School of Letters.

"Any university will collapse without professors, so some people must be sacrificed into this job," said Sapardi, when asked whether his salary at the university might be too low given his talents and accomplishments.

Witnessed by his wife Wardiningsih, Sapardi choked back tears at the end of his speech as he thanked his family for accepting him as a teacher and poet, "positions which can never promise wealth and glamour." (anr)